The Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs

Thousand a Year I. i. It’s really very inconvenient.. for any of my young men to be absent.. but—I suppose—what must be must be. 1850 DICKENS David Copper-field lvii. ‘My love,’ observed Mr. Micawber, ‘.. I am always willing to defer to your good sense. What will be—will be.’ 1981 J. BINGHAM Brock 70 Oh well, what must be, must be. fate and fatalism

N The NAIL that sticks up gets hammered down Japanese proverb. 1972 J. HOHENBERG New Era in Pacific 145 It will be a long time before the Japanese give up faith in the group creed: ‘The nail that sticks up must be hammered down.’ 1982 K. OHMAE Mind of Strategist 228 Whenever I wanted to do my own thing, I was constantly reminded that the nail that sticks up gets hammered down. 1997 New York Times 1 Aug. (online) Of course, Mr. Irabu still has time to redeem himself. And his lack of obvious humility—a handicap in his homeland, where an old proverb holds that ‘the nail that sticks up gets hammered down’—can be an asset here. 2007 J. HUIZENGA ‘Ten Tips for Teaching English as a Foreign Language’ on www.transitionsabroad.com In classrooms outside the U.S., however, showing solidarity with classmates.. is often more important than looking good for the teacher.. This holds true in Japan and China,.. where proverbs express the cultural idea in a nutshell:.. ‘The nail that stands up must be pounded down.’ action and consequence; pride nail see when all you have is a HAMMER, everything looks like a nail; ONE nail drives out another; for WANT of a nail the shoe was lost. name see give a DOG a bad name and hang him; he that has an ILL name is half hanged; NO names, no pack-drill. A NATION without a language is a nation without a heart Welsh proverb; for the Irish equivalent see quot. 2007 and cf. the remark of Irish patriot Thomas Davis (1814–45): ‘A people without a language of its own is only half a nation’ (’Our National Language’). 1917 Zionist Review 110 It is recognized that a nation without a language is like a body without a soul. 1972 Proceedings of the Institute on Narcotic Addition among Mexican Americans in the South West As one great citizen of this world said, ‘A country without a language is like a country without a heart.’ 1993 B. THOMAS Industrial Revolution and Atlantic Economy 229 The striking leveling-off in the rate of decline

between 1971 and 1981 is a great tribute to the wholehearted labours of thousands of Welsh patriots who have made the language the centre-piece of the national effort. Cenedl heb iaith, cenedl heb gallon. A nation without a language is a nation without a heart. 2007 posting 11 Feb. on anthropology.net In Ireland we have a saying ’Tir gan teanga, tir gan anam’ a country without a language is a country without a soul. The same applies to a people. national characteristics nation see also happy is the COUNTRY which has no history; the ENGLISH are a nation of shopkeepers. NATURE abhors a vacuum Cf. L. natura abhorret vacuum, Nature abhors a vacuum. 1551 CRANMER Answer to Gardiner 299 Naturall reason abhorreth vacuum. 1642 T. FULLER Holy State v. ii. Queen Joan.. (hating widowhood as much as Nature doth vacuum) maried James King of Majorca. 1686 R. BOYLE Free Inquiry V II. 292 The Axiom of the Schools, that Nature abhors a Vacuum. 1771 S. JOHNSON Letter 20 June (1952) I. 249 Whatever philosophy may determine of material nature, it is certainly true of intellectual nature, that it abhors a vacuum: our minds cannot be empty. 2001 Washington Times 30 Oct. A4 The White House should have expected this, of course, since the media, like nature, abhors a vacuum. Nature; opportunity, taken nature see also you can DRIVE out Nature with a pitchfork, but she keeps on coming back; SELF-preservation is the first law of nature. nay see he that WILL not when he may, when he will he shall have nay. NEAR is my kirtle, but nearer is my smock A justification for looking after one’s own closest interests; see also the next proverb. A kirtle is a woman’s skirt or gown; a smock is an undergarment. Cf. PLAUTUS Trinummus 1. 1154 tunica propior palliost, my tunic is closer than my cloak. 1461 Paston Letters (1976) II. 228 Nere is my kyrtyl but nerre is my smok. 1545 R. TAVERNER tr. Erasmus’ Adages (ed. 2) B7V The Englysshe prouerbe sayethe thus: nere is my cote, but nerer is my shyrt. 1622 J. HOWELL Familiar Letters 1 May (1903) 1. 126

That king.. having too many irons in the fire at his own home.. answered them that his shirt was nearer to him than his doublet. 1861 C. READE Cloister & Hearth IV. xxix. You must not think all of him and none of yourself. Near is your kirtle, but nearer is your smock. self-preservation NEAR is my shirt, but nearer is my skin See also the preceding proverb. Cf. early 14th-cent. Fr. plus pres m’est char que n’est chemise, my skin is nearer to me than my shirt. c 1570 in J. P. Collier Old Ballads (1840) 99 Neerer is my skin then shirte. 1631 J. HENSHAW Spare Hours of Meditations 63 His charitie beginnes at home, and there it ends; neere is his coat, but neerer is his skinne. 1712 J. ARBUTHNOT Lewis Baboon v. My Shirt (quoth he) is near me, but my Skin is nearer: Whilst I take care of the Welfare of other Folks, no body can blame me, to apply a little Balsam to my own Sores. 1890 T. H. HALL CAINEBondman II. X. ‘We can’t trust you.’.. ‘Not your own brother?’ said Jacob. ‘“Near is my shirt, but nearer is my skin,” as the saying is.’ self-preservation The NEARER the bone, the sweeter the meat a1398 J. TREVISA tr. Bartholomew’s On Properties of Things (1975) xix. 1 The nerer the boon the swetter is the flesshe. a 1661 T. FULLER Worthies (Wales) 2 As the sweetest flesh is said to be nearest the bones, so most delicious vallies are interposed betwixt these Mountains. 1778 in B. Franklin Writings (1906) VIII. 258 We all agree the nearer the bone the sweeter the meat. 1945 F. THOMPSON Lark Rise i. ‘The nearer the bone the sweeter the meat,’ they used to say, and they were getting very near the bone. .. Their children.. would have to depend wholly upon whatever was carved for them from the communal joint. 1979 ‘TREVANIAN’Shiborni I. 38 A little skinny.. for my taste, but, like my ol’ daddy used to say: the closer the bone, the sweeter the meat. 1996 Washington Post 27 Nov. B7 He inserts the rib in his mouth. ‘The closer to the bone, the sweeter the meat,’ he notes. value The NEARER the church, the farther from God 1303 R. BRUNNE Handlyng Synne (EETS) 1. 9242 Tharfor men seys, an weyl ys trowed [believed], ‘the nere the cherche, the fyrther fro God.’ 1620 T. SHELTON tr. Cervantes’ Don Quixote II. xlvii. Eat nothing of all this meat.. for this dinner was presented by Nunnes, and it is an olde saying, The neerer the Church, the farther from God. 1879 J. E. HOPKINS Work amongst Working Men i. I fear it was a practical

comment on the truth of the uncomfortable proverb, ‘The nearer the church, the farther from God,’ that so bad a district should adjoin one of the great headquarters of the church. 1957 R. GRAVES They hanged my Saintly Billy ii. ‘The nearer the church, the farther from God,’ is a proverb of doubtful truth. But true it is that William Palmer, as a child, had two churches frowning down on him. Christianity NECESSITY is the mother of invention Cf. PERSIUS Satires Prologue 10 magister artis ingeniique largitor venter, the belly is the teacher of art and the giver of wit. The idea is stated more succinctly in 1519 W. HORMAN Vulgaria 52 Nede taught hym wytte. Necessitas ingenium dedit. 1545 R. ASCHAM ToxophilusII 18V Necessitie, the inuentor of all goodnesse (as all authours in a maner, doo saye).. inuented a shaft heed. 1608 G. CHAPMANTragedy of Byron IV. i. The great Mother, Of all productions (graue Necessity). 1658 R. FRANCK Northern Memoirs (1694) 44 Art imitates Nature, and Necessity is the Mother of Invention. 1726 J. SWIFT Gulliver’s Travels IV. X . I soaled my Shoes with wood, which I cut from a Tree. . . No man could more verify the Truth . . That, Necessity is the Mother of Invention. 1861 C. READE Cloister & Hearth II. vi. ‘But, dame, I found language too poor to paint him. I was fain to invent. You know Necessity is the mother of—.’ ‘Ay! ay, that is old enough, o’ conscience’. 2001 Washington Post 18 Nov. B7 If necessity is the mother of invention, calamity is not uncommonly the source of legislation. necessity NECESSITY knows no law Cf. L. necessitas non habet legem, necessity has no law. 1377 LANGLAND Piers Plowman B. xx. 10 Nede ne hath no lawe, ne neure shal falle in dette. c 1530 W. TYNDALE Answer to More B1 Two things are without law, God and necessity. a1555 N. RIDLEY Lamentation of Miserable Estate of Church (1556) D4 The latter reason.. includeth a necessitie which after the common sayinge hathe no law. 1680 DRYDEN Kind Keeper III. ii. Necessity has no Law; I must be patient. 1776 F. RHINELANDER Letter 23 Feb. in H. C. Van Schaack Life of Peter Van Schaack (1842) 54 Troops.. quarter themselves in any houses they find shut up. Necessity knows no law. 1864 MRS H. WOOD Trevlyn Hold II. xiv. Necessity has no law, and he was obliged to rise. 1939 ‘D. YATES’ Gale Warning vi. ‘“Don’t speak to the man at the wheel” is a very good rule.’ ‘So’, said I, ‘is “Necessity knows no law.”’ 1977 S. T. WARNER Kingdoms of Elfin 107 Necessity knows no law. I must admit it. From time to time, I flew. necessity

need see (noun) a FRIEND in need is a friend indeed; (verb) GOOD wine needs no bush; a GUILTY conscience needs no accuser. NEEDLES and pins, needles and pins, when a man marries, his trouble begins 1843 J. O. HALLIWELL Nursery Rhymes of England 122 Needles and pins, needles and pins, When a man marries his trouble begins. 1876 R. D. BLACKMORE Cripps III. 214 Cripps was come to a turn of the track—for it scarcely could be called a road—and was sadly singing to Dobbin and himself that exquisite elegiac—’Needles and pins, needles and pins, When a man marries, his trouble begins!’ 1952 ‘J. CANNAN’ (1983) Body in Beck vii. 165 Thank God I steered clear of females. Needles and pins, needles and pins, when a man marries his trouble begins. Good God, where did I get that from? 2000 Washington Times 15 Nov. E12 (Herb & Jamaal comic strip) They say, ‘Needles and pins, needles and pins, when a man marries, his troubles begin,’ . . But I’ll tell ya, among the things they say, what I’m most curious about is . . who are ‘they’? marriage NEEDS must when the Devil drives Needs must is used elliptically for ‘one needs must (i.e. must of necessity) go’. c1450 J. LYDGATE Assembly of Gods (EETS) 1. 21 Hit ys oft seyde by hem that yet lyues He must nedys go that the deuell dryues. 1602 SHAKESPEARE All’s Well that ends Well I. iii. 29 He must needs go that the devil drives. 1835 SOUTHEY Doctor III. lxxxiii. Needs must go when the Devil drives. 1843 SURTEES Handley Cross III. xi. Needs must when the devil drives! . . But I’d rather do any thing than injure that poor blue-eyed beauty. 1978 T. SHARPE Throwback iii. I don’t want to marry the damned woman either, but needs must when the devil drives. 2002 Times 22 Feb. 24 Applied conscientiously in the rush hour it [the rule ‘women and children first’] would ensure that no male adult would ever reach his office on time, if at all. Needs must when the Devil drives is a more realistic motto for the Underground. necessity What a NEIGHBOUR gets is not lost Often with friend instead of neighbour. 1567 L. WAGER Mary Magdalene D4V There is nothyng lost that is done for such a friende. 1721 J. KELLY Scottish Proverbs 198 It is no tint [not lost], a Friend gets. 1891 J. L. KIPLING Beast & Man viii. The public at large have reaped much of the crop sown

by Government for its own army, but, as the Scottish saying has it, ‘What a neighbour gets is not lost.’ 1933 N. GORDON Shakespeare Murders xv. 237 ‘Every one is naturally interested in the whereabouts of a million pounds, even if it does not belong to oneself. It isn’t lost, what a friend gets.’ ‘You mean that you can always borrow from him?’ ‘I meant rather that one delights in his good fortune.’ neighbours; winners and losers neighbour see also GOOD fences make good neighbours. nest see there are no BIRDS in last year’s nest; BIRDS in their little nests agree; it’s an ILL bird that fouls its own nest. In vain the NET is spread in the sight of the bird With allusion to PROVERBS i. 17 (AV) Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird; cf. c 1395 WYCLIF Bible (1850) Proverbs i. 17 A net is leid in veyn before the ighen [eyes] of briddis. 1581 G. PETTIE tr. S. Guazzo’s Civil Conversation I. 20V In vaine (as the Prouerb sayth) The net is pitcht in the sight of the birdes. 1888 J. E. T. ROGERS Economic Interpretation of Hist. xxi. The landowners in Pitt’s time foresaw this. .. They would certainly be caught, and the net was spread in vain in sight of the bird. 1941 ‘M. COLES’ They tell No Tales x. ‘Keep a good look out.’.. ‘In vain is the net spread in the sight of the bird, anyway.’ 1961 L. S. DE CAMP Dragon of Ishtar Gate viii. ‘If they come, we shall be ready,’ said Bessas. ‘In vain the net is spread in the sight of the bird.’ deception; futility net see also all is FISH that comes to the net. If you gently touch a NETTLE it’ll sting you for your pains; grasp it like a lad of mettle, an’ as soft as silk remains The metaphorical phrase to grasp the nettle, to tackle a difficulty boldly, is often found. 1578 LYLY Euphues I. 212 True it is Philautus that he which toucheth ye nettle tenderly, is soonest stoung. 1660 W. SECKER Nonsuch Professor I. 156 Sin is like the nettle, that stings when it is gently touched, but doth hurt not when it is ruggedly handled. 1753 A. HILL Works IV. 120 Tender-handed stroke a nettle, And it stings you, for your

pains: Grasp it like a man of mettle, And it soft as silk remains. 1830 R. FORBY Vocabulary of East Anglia 430 ‘Nip a nettle hard, and it will not sting you’—i.e. Strong and decided measures prevail best with troublesome people. 1925 S. O’CASEY Juno & Paycock I. 35 Be firm, Captain. .. If you gently touch a nettle it’ll sting you for your pains; grasp it like a lad of mettle, an’ as soft as silk remains. boldness NEVER is a long time c1390 CHAUCER Canon’s Yeoman’s Tale 1. 1411 Nevere to thryve were to long a date. 1721 J. KELLY Scottish Proverbs 260 Never is a long Term. .. Spoken to them that say they will never get such a Thing effected. 1887 BLACKMORE Springhaven I. xvii. She never could pay her rent. But ‘never is a long time’.. and.. she stood clear of all debt now. 1979 H. HOWARD Sealed Envelope iii. ‘I never reveal my sources.’.. ‘Never is a long time.’ future NEVER say never Probably a pithy modern reformulation of the preceding proverb. 1977 Economist 9 Apr. 6 Mr Colley.. is politician enough never to say never. 1978 Washington Post 2 Mar. A1 Marshall did not rule out a resumption of talks, saying ‘you can never say “never” in this business.’ 1984 Washington Post 27 Apr. A23 A president should ‘never say never.’ 2002 Washington Times 18 Apr. B5 That proves you should never say ‘Never.’ future It is NEVER too late to learn A later variation of the next two proverbs. 1678 R. L’ESTRANGE Seneca’s Morals II. xx. It is never too late to learn what it is always necessary to know. 1721 J. KELLY Scottish Proverbs 266 Never too late to learn. 1856 W. COLLINS Lady of Glenwith Grange in After Dark II. 3 ‘It is never too late to learn,’ cried he. ‘I will make a fisherman of you in no time, if you will only attend to my directions.’ 1927 E. F. BENSON Lucia in London ii. We want to know what the cosmopolitan mind is thinking about. Of course we’re old, but it is never too late to learn. 2002 Washington Times 17 Feb. B3 To his credit, Norman Mailer later said that he felt ‘a very large responsibility’ for Mr. Adan’s murder, and admitted that he ‘never thought Abbott was close to killing ...I was not sensitive to the fact.’ It’s never too late to learn.

lateness; learning It is NEVER too late to mend See also the two adjacent proverbs. 1590 R. GREENE (title) Never too late. 1594 LODGE & GREENE Looking-Glass for London I3V Amends may neuer come too late. c 1645 J. HOWELL Familiar Letters 9 Nov. (1903) III. 139 We have both of us our failings that way ..but it is never over late to mend. 1856 C. READE (title) It is never too late to mend. 1934 H. SPRING Shabby Tiger iv. Adolf shrugged a shoulder which suggested that it’s never too late to mend. 1961 I. JEFFERIES It wasn’t Me! i. How kind. .. Never too late to mend. improvement; lateness NEVER too old to learn See also the two preceding proverbs. Cf. SENECA Epistle LXXVI. iii. tamdiu discen-dum est, quamdiu nescias: si proverbio credimus, quamdiu vivas, we must go on learning as long as we are ignorant; or, if we believe the proverb, as long as we live. 1530 A. BARCLAY Eclogues (EETS) II. 538 Coridon thou art not to olde for to lere. 1555 Institution of Gentleman B7V No man can be to olde to learne. 1670 J. RAY English Proverbs 112 Never too old to learn. 1712 J. ARBUTHNOT Law is Bottomles Pit I. vii. A Lawyer I was born, and a Lawyer I will be; one is never too Old to learn. 1858 TROLLOPE Dr. Thorne I. x. One should never be too old to learn—there’s always something new worth picking up. 1990 ‘C. AIRD’ ‘Lord Peter’s Touch’ in Injury Time (1995) 45 ‘All right then, tell me. I suppose I’m never too old to learn.’ learning; old age never see also BETTER late than never; never send a BOY to do a man’s job; never do EVIL that good may come of it; what you’ve never HAD you never miss; PAY beforehand was never well served; never let the SUN go down on your anger. NEW brooms sweep clean The phrase new broom (one newly appointed to a position who makes changes in personnel or procedures) derives from this proverb.

1546 J. HEYWOOD Dialogue of Proverbs II.i. F3V Som therto said, the grene new brome swepith cleene. 1578 LYLY Euphues I. 232 Ah well I wotte [know] that a newe broome sweepeth cleene. 1616 J. WITHALS Dict. (rev. ed.) 569 New bromes sweepe cleane, yet old friendship still retaine. 1776 G. COLMAN New Brooms! 15 I am glad he is gone—Glad!—To be sure. New Brooms, you know. 1877 J. A. FROUDE Short Studies 3rd Ser. 55 New brooms sweep clean. Abbot Thomas, like most of his predecessors, began with attempts at reformation. 1979 F. OLBRICH Sweet & Deadly iv. He was all right at first. It was a case of a new broom sweeping clean. improvement; innovation What is NEW cannot be true 1639 J. CLARKE Parœmiologia Anglo-Latina 228 The newest things, not always truest. 1791 J. BOSWELL Life of Johnson II. 283 I found that generally what was new was false. 1880 J. NICHOL Byron ix. We are told.. that he knew little of art or music. .. It is true but not new. But when Hunt proceeds to say that Byron had no sentiment.. it is new enough, but is manifestly not true. 1928 Times 4 Feb. 8 Sir Arthur Evans has fallen a victim.. to the old slogan’What is new cannot be true.’ innovation NEW lords, new laws Cf. a 1450 St. Editha (1883) 96 Willyham Conquerour was made here kyng, And made newe lordus and eke new lawe. a 1547 E. HALL Chronicle (1548) Hen. VI 169 Tholde spoken prouerbe, here toke place: New Lordes, new lawes. 1824 SCOTT St. Ronan’s Well II. i. But new lords new laws—naething but fine and imprisonment, and the game no a feather the plentier. 1874 T. HARDY Far from Madding Crowd I. viii. ‘I was lately married to a woman, and she’s my vocation now.’ . . ‘New lords new laws, as the saying is.’ 2004 News Bulletin (dateline: Sochi) 28 Mar. (Interfax) The EU presidency rotates every six months. ‘As a Russian proverb says: new lords, new laws. The EU has new priorities with every new president. It is difficult to work in these conditions.’ change; circumstances You can’t put NEW wine in old bottles With allusion to MATTHEW ix. 17 (AV) Neither do men put new wine into old bottles: else the bottles break, and the wine runneth out, and the bottles perish. The idea is also expressed allusively as a metaphorical phrase.

1912 L. STRACHEY Landmarks in French Literature vi. The new spirits had animated the prose of Chateaubriand and the poetry of Lamartine; but.. the form of both these writers retained most of the important characteristics of the old tradition. It was new wine in old bottles. 1948 A. J. TOYNBEE Civilization on Trial vi. The new wines of industrialism and democracy have been poured into old bottles and they have burst the old bottles beyond repair. 1960 I. JEFFERIES Dignity & Purity viii. ‘I don’t think you can put new wine in old bottles.’ I looked doubtful. .. ‘A lot of this could be rationalized.’ 1974 T. SHARPE Porterhouse Blue x. ‘Motives?.. Good old-fashioned lust.’ ‘That hardly explains the explosive nature of his end.’.. ‘You can’t put new wine in old bottles.’ innovation There is always something NEW out of Africa L. ex Africa semper aliquid novi, a variant of a passage in the Naturalis Historia (viii. 16) of Pliny the Elder referring to hybridization of African animals: unde etiam vulgare Graeciae dictum semper aliquid novi African afferre, hence that common saying of the Greek that Africa is always bringing forth something new; the allusion is to a passage in Aristotle’s De Animalibus Historia viii. 28, 7 Libya is always showing something new. Versions of the Latin saying have been current in England since Erasmus’ Adagia (1500). 1559 W. BAVARDE tr. A Woorke of Ioannes Ferrarius 81 It is saied that Affricque bringeth foorthe alwaies some newe thing. 1642 J. HOWELL Instructions for Forreine Travel (Arber ed.) iii. 22 France, which as Africk produceth always something New, for I never knew week passe in Paris but it brought forth some new kinds of Authors. 1976 D. ARDEN (title) Out of Africa something new? 1983 R. KELLY ‘Stone Wall in Providence’ in Under Words 112 Always something new / out of Africa. Rubadubdub of the new desires squeezing / into the convenient old places of the sleepstonewall. 2000 CBS NEWS (web site) 11 June It is a thing of rare beauty nonetheless: Humans and dangerous animals at peace and in harmony with each other—proving once again that there is always something new out of Africa. novelty new see also there is NOTHING new under the sun; it is best to be OFF with the old love before you are on with the new; you can’t TEACH an old dog new tricks. news see BAD news travels fast; GO abroad and you’ll hear news of home; NO news is good news. nibble see a BLEATING sheep loses a bite.

NIGHT brings counsel Cf. MENANDER Sententiae no. 222 at night comes counsel to the wise; L. in nocte consilium, in night is counsel. 1590 SPENSER Faerie Queene I. i. 291 Vntroubled night.. giues counsell best. 1640 G. HERBERT Outlandish Proverbs no. 746 Night is the mother of Councels. 1660 DRYDEN Astrœa Redux 1. 93 Well might the Ancient Poets then confer On Night the honour’d name of Counseller. 1928 L. THAYER Darkest Spot xviii. The saying that night brings counsel is often true. . . Peter . . woke next morning with a plan of campaign fully developed. 1967 N. FREELING Strike out where not Applicable 184 ‘Home you go, boy. Night brings counsel.’ Night did bring counsel. Or rather Verbiest, the young inspector, brought it. advice night see also BARNABY bright, Barnaby bright, the longest day and the shortest night; all CATS are grey in the dark; RED sky at night shepherd’s delight; SING before breakfast, cry before night. NINE tailors make a man The literal meaning is that a gentleman must select his attire from various sources. It is now sometimes specifically associated with bell-ringing (see quots. 1908 and 1934). 1613 Tarlton’s Jests C1 Two Taylors goes to a man. 1647 N. WARD Simple Cobbler 26 It is a more common then convenient saying, that nine Taylers make a man; it were well if nineteene could make a woman to her minde. 1776 Poor Robin’s Almanack II. C6V Do ye know how many Taylors make a Man? Why Nine—Nine Taylors make a Man. 1819 SCOTT Letter 26 July (1933) V. 427 They say it take nine tailors to make a man— apparently, one is sufficient to ruin him. 1908 H. B. WALTERS Church Bells v. When the Knell is rung, it is a frequent practice to indicate the . . sex of the deceased. .. The old saying ‘nine tailors make a man’ is really ‘nine tellers’ [strokes], or three times three. 1912 A. BRAZIL New Girl at St. Chad’s i. There’s a saying that it takes nine tailors to make a man, so if your name is Taylor you can only be the ninth part of a lady! 1934 D. L. SAYERS Nine Tailors IV. iii. The voice of the bells of Fenchurch St. Paul. .. Nine Tailors Make a Man. dress nine see also PARSLEY seed goes nine times to the Devil; POSSESSION is nine points of

the law; it is not SPRING until you can plant your foot upon twelve daisies; a STITCH in time saves nine. NO cross, no crown Cross is used here punningly as in CROSSES are ladders that lead to heaven. 1609 T. BRETNOR Almanac March Good days A crosse before a Crowne. 1621 F. QUARLES History of Queene Ester: Meditations ix. The way to Blisse lyes not on beds of Downe, And he that had no Crosse, deserues no Crowne. 1669 W. PENN (title) No Cross no Crown. 1944 ‘A. GILBERT’ Death at Door (1945) xiii. 135 They were always at loggerheads, those two. No Cross, No Crown, that’s their motto. 1996 L. ANDREWS Sinister Side vii. 123 He sighed piteously. ‘I suppose I’ll have to hang on for it.’ ‘No cross, no crown, Julian.’ He realised he had overplayed the martyr. misfortune NO cure, no pay The expression is known principally from its use on Lloyd’s of London’s Standard Form of Salvage Agreement; cf. the earlier no purchase, no pay and similar proverbs. 1800 J. COBB Ramah Droog I iv You’ll never have reason to complain of my want of confidence. Besides, the worst come to the worst.. ‘No cure, no pay.’ 1836 W. C. RISLEY Early Victorian Squarson 13 (16 Dec.).. a travelling doctor of smoaking chimneys . . made his appearance here. I agreed to buy his skill . . on the principle of No Cure, No Pay. 1907 A. R. KENNEDY Treatise.. Law of Civil Salvage (ed. 2) 270 (heading) Salvage agreement on basis of Lloyd’s standard form of ‘no cure—no pay’ agreement. 1933 Reports of Tax Cases (Inland Revenue) XVII. 352 The charges of those accountants . . were made on the ‘No cure, no pay’ principle. 1982 Listener 6 May 10 The divers.. will earn their money. .. If they find nothing, they will receive nothing. .. No cure, no pay. just deserts NO foot, no horse In North America as no hoof, no horse. 1751 J. BRIDGES (title) No Foot, No Horse. An essay on the anatomy of the foot of.. a horse. 1893 A. T. FISHER The Farrier or ‘No Foot, No Horse’ 2 ‘No foot, no horse’

exactly expresses that which I desire to impress on the reader in the following pages. Without the full and perfect use of its feet, the horse is useless. 1999 G. WILLIAMS & M. DEACON No Foot, No Horse 139 Shoeing will no longer be regarded as a necessary evil but vital for performance and soundness—and the expression ‘no foot, no horse’ will be a thing of the past. 2001 R. FREEMAN www.horseshoes.com (web site) It was while hanging around the barns with a friend who trained horses that I quickly gained an appreciation for the old adage, ‘no hoof, no horse’. 2007 Times2 27 Apr. The great fascination of extreme old age will.. be.. how do you behave when you reach your destination?.. in the manner of old-fashioned trench warfare, with a mixture of chiropody and raw courage. No foot, no horse, says the old stables maxim, and it goes for humans too. horse lore NO man can serve two masters With allusion to MATTHEW vi. 24 (AV) No man can serve two masters (the verse which concludes you cannot serve GOD and Mammon). c 1330 in T. Wright Political Songs (1839) 325 No man may wel serve tweie lordes to queme [please] c 1477 CAXTON Jason (EETS) 57 No man may wel serve two maistres, for that one corumpeth that other. 1642 D. ROGERS Naaman vi. You cannot have your will . . and Christ too; no man can serve two masters. 1853 R. C. TRENCH On Lessons in Proverbs v. Our lord..has said: ‘No man can serve two masters.’.. So the Spanish proverb: He who has to serve two masters, has to lie to one. 1979 ‘C. AIRD’ Some die Eloquent v. The Coroner’s Officer existed in a sort of leaderless no-man’s-land. Hostilities had broken out over this more than once... No man can serve two masters. employers and employees NO man is a hero to his valet Attributed to Mme Cornuel (1605–94): il n’y a pas de héros pour son valet-de-chambre, no man is a hero to his valet. Cf. 1603 J. FLORIO tr. Montaigne’s Essays III. ii. Few men haue beene admired of their familiers. .. In my climate of Gascoigne they deeme it as iest to see mee in print. 1764 S. FOOTE Patron II. 31 It has been said.. that no man is a hero to his valet de chambre; now I am afraid when you and I grow a little more intimate . . you will be horribly disappointed in your high expectations. 1910 Times 20 Jan. (Literary Supplement) 17 Many men have been heroes to their valets, and most (except Pope and Poe) to their biographers. 1940 A. CHRISTIE One, Two, buckle my Shoe i. It has been said that no man is a hero to his valet. To that may be added that few men are heroes to

themselves at the moment of visiting their dentist. 2002 Washington Times 9 May C2 All of which is a mere footnote to the longest presidency in American history, and one of the greatest. But it is a useful reminder that just as no man is a hero to his valet so, it seems, not even a president is immune to the ministrations of a Chef From Hell. employers and employees; familiarity NO moon, no man 1878 T. HARDY Return of Native I. I. iii. ‘No moon, no man.’ ‘Tis one of the truest sayings ever spit out. The boy never comes to anything that’s born at new moon. 1878 T. F. THISTELTON-DYER English Folk-Lore ii. In Cornwall, when a child is born in the interval between an old moon and the first appearance of a new one, it is said that it will never live to reach the age of puberty. Hence the saying ‘No moon, no man.’ calendar lore; children NO names, no pack-drill If nobody is named as being responsible for something, then nobody can be blamed and punished. Also used more generally in favour of reticence on a subject. Pack-drill is a military punishment in which the offender is compelled to march up and down in full marching order. 1923 O. ONIONS Peace in our Time I. ii. Men had a way of omitting the names of those of whom they spoke; no names no pack-drill. 1925 S. O’CASEY Juno & Paycock II. 61 I know some as are as sweet as the blossoms that bloom in the May—oh, no names, no pack drill. 2000 P. LOVESEY Reaper iv. 47 ‘Do you know, I’ve heard of churches— no names, no pack-drill—who wait until the end of the year before stomping up.’ speech and silence NO news is good news 1616 JAMES I in Loseley MSS (1836) 403 No newis is bettir then evill newis. 1640 J. HOWELL Familiar Letters 3 June (1903) II. 144 I am of the Italians mind that said, ‘Nulla nuova, buona nuova’, (no news, good news). 1850 F. E. SMEDLEY Frank Fairlegh x. Arguing.. (on the ‘no news being good news’ system) that I should have heard again if anything had gone wrong, I dismissed the subject from my mind. 1974 T. SHARPE Porterhouse Blue xxi. ‘He can’t reply,’ the Senior Tutor pointed out. ‘I find that most consoling. After all no news is good news.’ 2002 Washington Post 12 Feb. C13 (Mother Goose & Grimm comic strip) ‘Sigh.. No news is good news.’ ‘I’ll say.. It means no rolled-up newspaper.’ news

NO pain, no gain 1577 N. BRETON Works of Young Wit 33V They must take pain that look for any gayn. 1648 HERRICK Hesperides 298 No Paines, no Gaines. If little labour, little are our gaines: Mans fortunes are according to his paines. 1853 R. C. TRENCH On Lessons in Proverbs iv. For the most part they courageously accept the law of labour, No pains, no gains,—No sweat, no sweet, as the appointed law and condition of man’s life. 1985 Washington Post 22 May (Health Supplement) 14 Forget the coach’s rule of ‘no pain, no gain’. Today, exercise researchers are replacing it with the ‘talk rule’. 2000 M. BERMAN Twilight of American Culture i. 58 As Peter Sacks shows.., there is very little tolerance on the part of students for any real work; ‘no pain, no gain’ is not part of their emotional vocabulary. wanting and having NO penny, no paternoster 1528 W. TYNDALE Obedience of Christian Man fo. lxxxiiV After the commune sayenge, no peny no Pater noster. 1648 HERRICK Hesperides 302 Who..Can’t send for a gift A Pig to the Priest for a Roster [roast], Shall heare his Clarke say, .. No pennie, no Pater Noster. 1721 J. KELLY Scottish Proverbs 259 No Penny, no Pater Noster. 1925 J. I. C. CLARKE My Life ix. If the churchly motto ‘No penny, no Paternoster’ was true, how could a church.. stay downtown when its congregation was moving north. 1940 D. TEILHET Broken Face Murders ii. No penny, no paternoster. I neither pay the piper nor do I dance. just deserts no see also HALF a loaf is better than no bread; there’s no great LOSS without some gain; there’s no PLACE like home; if there were no RECEIVERS, there would be no thieves; there is no ROYAL road to learning; SEE no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil; SHROUDS have no pockets; no SMOKE without fire; TIME and tide wait for no man; no TIME like the present. nobody see EVERYBODY’S business is nobody’s business; it’s an ILL wind that blows nobody any good. A NOD’s as good as a wink to a blind horse A fanciful assertion, often abbreviated as in quot. 1822, that the slightest hint is enough to convey one’s meaning in the case.

1794 W. GODWIN Caleb Williams I. viii. Say the word; a nod is as good as a wink to a blind horse. 1822 B. MALKIN Gil Blas (rev. ed.) I. II. ix. I shall say no more at present; a nod is as good as a wink. 1925 S. O’CASEY Shadow of Gunman in Two Plays I. 142 You needn’t say no more—a nod’s as good as a wink to a blind horse. 1979 L. MEYNELL Hooky & Villainous Chauffeur vi. The way he behaves.. Other men’s wives. Still, I expect you know as much about that as I do. . . They say a nod’s as good as a wink to a blind horse. 1992 W. DONALDSON Root into Europe ii. 34 Got a good PR machine working for you, I expect. Say no more. .. Nod’s as good as a wink. hints; tact nod see also (verb) HOMER sometimes nods. noise see EMPTY vessels make the most sound. none see a BAD excuse is better than none; there’s none so BLIND as those who will not see; none but the BRAVE deserve the fair; there’s none so DEAF as those who will not hear; JACK of all trades and master of none; TWO is company, but three is none.. no one see no one should be JUDGE in his own cause. NORTH wind doth blow, we shall have snow 1805 Songs for Nursery 3 The north wind doth blow, And we shall have snow, And what will poor Robin do then? Poor thing! 1980 A. T. ELLIS Birds of Air (1983) 113 Mary was thinking, ‘The north wind doth blow and we shall have snow and what will the robin do then..’ weather lore nose see don’t CUT off your nose to spite your face. NOTHING comes of nothing C f . ALCAEUS Fragment cccxx. (Lobel-Page) nothing comes of nothing; L. ex nihilo nihil fit. c 1380 CHAUCER Boethius v. pr. i. For this sentence is verray and soth, that ‘no thing hath his beynge of naught’. 1551 CRANMER Answer to Gardiner 369 Sicut ex nihilo nihil fit, Ita nihil in nihilum redigitur, As nothyng can be made of nought, so

nothynge can be tourned into nought. 1605–6 SHAKESPEARE King Lear I. i. 89 Nothing will come of nothing. Speak again. 1818 SCOTT Heart of Midlothian I. i. You are to give me all your business. .. If you have none, the learned gentleman here knows nothing can come of nothing. 1946 E. R. CURTIS Lady Sarah Lennox iv. ‘What did you think of it?’ ‘Nothing, Sir.’ ‘Nothing comes of nothing!’ the King exclaimed impatiently. 1998 T. DALRYMPLE Life at Bottom (2001) 233 Well, as King Lear said, nothing comes of nothing: and the journalist’s hatred of the police was unlikely to have sprung completely at random and fully informed from his consciousness. reciprocity NOTHING for nothing a 1704 T. BROWN Works (1707) I. 131 Thou know’st the proverb, nothing due for nought. 1800 M. EDGEWORTH Castle Rackrent 167 Nothing for nothing, or I’m under a mistake with you, Jason. 1858 G. J. WHYTE-MELVILLE Interpreter xxv. Sir Harry.. recollected the old-established principle of himself and his clique, ‘Nothing for nothing, and very little for a halfpenny.’ 1908 A. MACLAREN Ezekiel 172 The last touch in the picture is meanness, which turned everything into money. . . Is not ‘nothing for nothing’ an approved maxim to-day? 1981 N. FREELING One Damn Thing after Another iv. Their heart’s not in it. Nothing for nothing and not much for sixpence. reciprocity NOTHING is certain but death and taxes 1726 DEFOE Hist. Devil II. vi. Not the Man in the Moon, .. not the Inspiration of Mother Shipton, or the Miracles of Dr. Faustus, Things as certain as Death and Taxes, can be more firmly believ’d. 1789 B. FRANKLIN Letter 13 Nov. in Writings (1907) X. 69 In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes. 1939 L. I. WILDER By Shores of Silver Lake xxv. Everything’s more or less a gamble... Nothing is certain but death and taxes. 2001 Washington Times 20 Dec. C10 In 1789, Benjamin Franklin said, ‘In this world, nothing is certain but death and taxes.’ Well, there is one way to avoid capital-gains taxes on investments—hold them until you die. certainty and uncertainty NOTHING is certain but the unforeseen Similar to the UNEXPECTED always happens. 1886 J. A. FROUDE Oceana vii. There is a proverb that ‘nothing is certain but the unforeseen,’ and in fact few things turn out as we expect them. 1905 A. MACLA-REN Gospel according to St. Matthew I. 322 There is nothing certain to happen, says the proverb, but the unforeseen. Tomorrow will have its cares. certainty and uncertainty;

foresight and hindsight NOTHING is for ever 1984 Defense Electronics 144/2 Nothing is forever, and political-military alliances are less forever than most. 1992 MIEDER Dict. American Proverbs 433 Nothing can last for ever. 2001 Times 7 Nov. 16 Mr Blair may treat Parliament’s support as unconditional, but nothing is for ever. change There is NOTHING new under the sun With allusion to ECCLESIASTES i. 9 (AV) There is no new thing under the sun. 1592 G. DELAMOTHE French Alphabet II. 7 Under the large Cope of heauen, we see not a new thing. 1664 A. BRADSTREET Works (1867) 53 There is no new thing under the sun. 1801 T. JEFFERSON Writings (1904) X. 229 We can no longer say there is nothing new under the sun. 1850 C. KINGSLEY Alton Locke I. xviii. There is nothing new under the sun; all that, is stale and trite to a septuagenarian, who has seen where it all ends. 2002 Times 4 Jan. 16 Cliché is the element in which political hacks live and move and have our being. Not just situation cliché. There is nothing new under the sun in politics. familiarity; novelty NOTHING should be done in haste but gripping a flea a 1655 N. L’ESTRANGE in Anecdotes & Traditions (1839) I. 55 A grave gentleman in this Kingdome us’d this phrase often: ‘Do nothing rashly, but catching of fleas.’ 1678 J. RAY English Proverbs (ed. 2) 151 Nothing most be done hastily but killing of fleas. 1721 J. KELLY Scottish Proverbs 261 Nothing to be done in haste, but gripping of Fleas. . . Spoken when we are unreasonably urged to make haste. 1927 J. BUCHAN Witch Wood xii. What’s the need o’ hurry when the body’s leg is still to set. As my auld mither used to say, naething suld be done in haste but grippin’ a flea. 1969 B. LEHANE Compleat Flea i. ‘Do nothing hastily but catching of fleas,’ warns a wary proverb. NOTHING so bad but it might have been worse A more positive version is 1817 SCOTT Rob Roy II. xiii. There’s naething sae gude on this side o’ time but it might hae been better.

1876 I. BANKS Manchester Man III. xiii. However, there is nothing so bad but it might be worse. 1885 E. J. HARDY How to be Happy though Married xxi. Let us resolve to look at the bright side of things. . . ‘Nothing so bad but it might have been worse.’ 1908 Times 5 Oct. 3 Farmers.. will regard the.. meteorological changes as illustrating the ancient axiom to the effect that circumstances are never so bad that they cannot be worse. good and evil; optimism NOTHING so bold as a blind mare a 1628 J. CARMICHAELL Proverbs in Scots no. 1435 The blind horse is hardiest. 1721 J. KELLY Scottish Proverbs 266 Nothing so bold as a blind Mare. 1922 J. BUCHAN Huntingtower x. He spoke of the still unconquered enemy with.. disrespect, so that Mrs Morran was moved to observe that there was ‘naething sae bauld as a blind mear’. boldness; ignorance There is NOTHING so good for the inside of a man as the outside of a horse A proverb asserting the benefit of horse-riding to health. 1906 G. W. E. RUSSELL Social Silhouettes xxxii. The Squire will wind up.. with an apocryphal saying which he attributes to Lord Palmerston—‘There’s nothing so good for the inside of a man as the outside of a horse.’ 1946 M. C. SELF Horseman’s Encyclopaedia 338 ‘There is something about the outside of a horse which is good for the inside of a man.’ This adage is wiser than might first appear. But one should not consider just the hours spent in the saddle as beneficial. 1987 Time 28 Dec. 52 There is nothing better for the inside of a man than the outside of a horse. Ronald Reagan President. health NOTHING succeeds like success Cf. Fr. rien ne réussit comme le succès, nothing succeeds like success. 1867 A. D. RICHARDSON Beyond Mississippi xxxiv. ‘Nothing succeeds like success.’ There was much Southern sympathy on the island; now all are our dear friends. 1872 W. BESANT Ready-Money Mortiboy I. ix. In Mr. Mortiboy’s judgment no proverb could be better than.. ‘Nothing succeeds like success.’ Success dazzled him. 1980 H.

TREVOR-ROPER History & Imagination 9 Nothing succeeds like success, and if Hitler had founded his empire . . we can well imagine how later historians would have treated him. success NOTHING venture, nothing gain A variant of the next proverb. Cf. late 14th-cent. Fr. qui onques rien n’enprist riens n’achieva, he who never undertook anything never achieved anything; 1481 CAXTON Reynard (1880) xii. He that will wynne he muste laboure and auenture. 1624 T. HEYWOOD Captives IV. i. I see hee that nought venters, nothinge gaynes. 1668 C. SEDLEY Mulberry Garden III. ii. Who ever caught any thing With a naked hook? nothing venture, nothing Win. 1876 BLACKMORE Cripps III. iv. We must all have been in France.. if—well, never mind. Nothing venture, nothing win. 1967 D. MORRIS Naked Ape iv. For him [the withdrawn individual] the old saying: ‘Nothing ventured, nothing gained’ has been rewritten: ‘Nothing ventured, nothing lost’. 1979 A. PRICE Tomorrow’s Ghost vii. That was decidedly interesting—’And Pearson Cole?’ Nothing venture, nothing gain. 1990 R. D. EDWARDS English School of Murder vi. ‘I’d need a little training before I could take on a proper class.’ ‘Nonsense, old man,’ cried Rich. ‘Nothing ventured, nothing gained.’ 2001 Washington Times 15 Dec. B2 Though there are no guarantees, it does seem sad that a chance at true love was stillborn because one of the parties had low self-esteem. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. boldness; wanting and having; risk NOTHING venture, nothing have c1385 CHAUCER Troilus & Criseyde II . 807 He which that nothing undertaketh, Nothing n’acheveth, be hym looth or deere [be it hateful or pleasing to him]. 1546 J. HEYWOOD Dialogue of Proverbs I. xi. E1 Noght venter noght haue. 1559 T. COOPER Bibliotheca (ed. 3) s.v. Fortis, Fortune foretherethe [furthers] bolde aduenturers, nothyng venture, nothyng haue. 1791 J. BOSWELL Life of Johnson II. 166 I am, however, generally for trying ‘Nothing venture, nothing have’. 1841 DICKENS Old Curiosity Shop I. xxix. I’m sorry the gentleman’s daunted—nothing venture, nothing have—but the gentleman knows best. 1957 R. DOWNING All Change Here v. 36 ‘Jonah, aren’t you taking a hell of a risk?’ ‘Of course. We all are. But then “nothing venture nothing have.”’ boldness; wanting and having; risk nothing see also BELIEVE nothing of what you hear, and only half of what you see; BLESSED is he who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed; CIVILITY costs nothing; the FROG in the well knows nothing of the sea; there is nothing like LEATHER; you

don’t get SOMETHING for nothing; SOMETHING is better than nothing; the SUN loses nothing by shining into a puddle. notice see LONG foretold, long last. There’s NOWT so queer as folk Nowt is a dialect variant of ‘nought’ i.e. ‘nothing’. 1905 English Dialect Dict. IV. 304 There’s nowt sae queer as folk, Old saying. 1939 J. WOOD Letter 30 May in J. Chambers Letters (1979) 186 I trust you.. find plenty of interest in people & their doings. Really ‘there is nowt so funny as folk’. 1955 R. E. MEGARRYMiscellany-at-Law I. 72 There is the infinite charm and variety of human nature itself: ‘there’s nowt so queer as folk.’ 1993 B. D’AMATO Hard Women xxi. 243 ‘You never really know anything about people. As LJ sometimes says, “There’s nowt so strange as folk.” It’s not like you can work people out on a chessboard.’ 2002 Oldie Apr. 57 . . and his creed that everyone is good copy. Or, as they would put it up North, that there’s nowt so queer as folk. idiosyncrasy nowt see also when in DOUBT, do nowt; HEAR all, see all, say nowt. number see there is LUCK in odd numbers; there is SAFETY in numbers. nut see the GODS send nuts to those who have no teeth.

O When the OAK is before the ash, then you will only get a splash; when the ash is before the oak, then you may expect a soak A traditional way of predicting whether the summer will be wet or dry on the basis of whether the oak or the ash is first to come into leaf in the spring. 1852 Notes & Queries 1st Ser. V. 581 When the oak comes out before the ash, there will be fine weather in harvest. I.. find it generally correct. 1911 Times Literary Supplement 4 Aug. 285 One of the commonest weather rhymes in most parts of England deals with the budding of the oak and the ash:—When the oak’s before the ash Then you’ll only get a splash, When the ash is before the oak Then you may expect a soak. But in North Germany the signs are exactly inverted, and also in Cornwall. 1987 Daily Telegraph 22 June 12 My farmer neighbour and myself have always been great believers in the saying: ‘Ash before oak, we’ll get a soak Oak before ash, we’ll only have a splash.’ weather lore Beware of an OAK, it draws the stroke; avoid an ash, it counts the flash; creep under the thorn, it can save you from harm Advice on where to shelter from lightning during a thunderstorm. 1878 Folk-Lore Record I. 43 Mothers teach their children to say—Beware of an oak, It draws the stroke; Avoid an ash; It counts the flash; Creep under the thorn, It can save you from harm. 1945 F. THOMPSON Lark Rise xvii. Some one would.. warn him to keep away from trees during a thunderstorm. .. Others would quote: Under oak there comes a stroke, Under elm there comes a calm, And under ash there comes a crash. necessity; security oak see also GREAT oaks from little acorns grow; LITTLE strokes fell great oaks; a REED before the wind lives on, while mighty oaks do fall. obedience see the FIRST duty of a soldier is obedience. He that cannot OBEY cannot command

Cf. SENECA De Ira II. xiv. nemo regere potest nisi qui et regi, no one can rule unless he can also be ruled. a 1500 tr. T.à Kempis’ De Imitatione Christi (1893) xxiv. No man surely comaun- dith but he that hath lerned to obeye. 1581 G. PETTIE tr. S. Guazzo’s Civil Conversation III. 48V Those onely knowe well how to commaund, which know well howe to obaye. 1734 B. FRANKLIN Poor Richard’s Almanack (Aug.) He that cannot obey, cannot command. 1850 H. MELVILLE White Jacket vi. As the only way to learn to command, is to learn to obey, the usage of a ship of war is such that midshipmen are constantly being ordered about by the Lieutenants. 1972 S. CLOETE Victorian Son ix. I did not mind the army because I knew I must learn to obey before I could command. obedience; rulers and ruled OBEY orders, if you break owners A nautical proverb; for the meaning see quot. 1924. 1782 W. GORDON Letter 30 Nov. in Proceedings of Massachusetts Hist. Society (1930) LXIII. 476 You will be safe, though you break orders that would break your owners. 1823 J. F. COOPER Pilot vii. The old rule runs, ‘Obey orders, if you break owners.’ 1924 R. CLEMENTS Gipsy of Horn iii. What could be sounder than ‘Obey orders, if you break owners’—meaning, do as you’re told, even if you know it’s wrong. 1976 J. R. L. ANDERSON Death on North Sea iv. I was brought up on the old sea maxim, ‘Obey orders if you break owners.’ obedience odd see there is LUCK in odd numbers. odious see COMPARISONS are odious. It is best to be OFF with the old love before you are on with the new 1801 M. EDGEWORTH Belinda I. x. I can give you my advice gratis, in the formula of an old Scotch song. ..‘’Tis good to be off with the old love, Before you be on with the new.’ 1819 SCOTT Bride of Lammermoor III. ii. It is best to be off wi’ the old love Before you be on wi’ the new. 1891 A. LANG Essays in Little 6 Dumas.. met the great man at Marseilles, where. .Alexandre chanced to be ‘on with the new love’ before being

completely ‘off with the old’. 1923 E. V. LUCAS Advisory Ben xxxix. That proverb about being off with the old love is a very sound one. 1980 I. ST. JAMES Money Stones III. vi. Off with the old and on with the new. Why not just come out with it? Tell her it’s all finished. constancy and inconstancy; love OFFENDERS never pardon 1640 G. HERBERT Outlandish Proverbs no. 561 The offender never pardons. 1672 DRYDEN Conquest of Granada II. I. ii. Forgiveness to the Injur’d does belong; But they ne’r pardon who have done the wrong. 1876 I. BANKS Manchester Man III. xiii. He was of Mrs. Ashton’s mind, that, ‘as offenders never pardon’, Augusta needed a friend. forgiveness; wrong-doers offense see ATTACK is the best form of defence; the best DEFENSE is a good offense. OLD habits die hard 1758 B. FRANKLIN in London Chronicle 26–28 Dec. 632 I hear the reader say, Habits are hard to break, and those.. accustomed to idleness or extravagance do not easily change their manners. 1792 J. BELKNAP Foresters ix. Old habits are not easily broken, and.. they endeavoured.. to transfer the blame from him to his wife. 1944 ‘H. TALBOT’ Rim of Pit xv. ‘Miss Daventry.. started to run. Naturally I ran after her.’ Rogan smiled. ‘Old habits die hard.’ 2002 Washington Times 6 Mar. A2 Lately, we’ve heard high French officials denounce our nation’s anti-terrorism policies as ‘simplistic’ and seen a French Olympic skating judge given the heave for apparently conspiring to aid the Russians (old habits die hard). 2007 Times 13 Sept. 18 Things may have changed, but old habits die hard and Portugal’s historic habits more than justify suspicions about its police force’s methods, motives and obsessional secrecy. habit You cannot put an OLD head on young shoulders 1591 H. SMITH Preparative to Marriage 14 It is not good grafting of an olde head vppon young shoulders, for they will neuer beare it willingly but grudgingly. 1794 E. DRINKER Journal 31 Dec. (1889) 256 Tis not the way I could wish my children to conclude the year—in parties—but we can’t put old heads on young shoulders. 1951 Sport 30 Mar.-5 Apr. 111 no longer believe in the old proverb that you cannot put an old head on young shoulders. 1975 J. PORTER Package included Murder xvi. The Hon. Con generously forgave her. Well, you can’t expect old heads on young shoulders, can you? wisdom; youth

OLD sins cast long shadows Cf. 1638 SUCKLING Aglaura v. in Plays (1971) 110 Our sins, like to our shadowes, When our day is in its glorie scarce appear: Towards our evening how great and monstrous they are! 1924 D. VANE Scar xxiii. ‘You don’t look well. .. No fresh worry, I hope.’ ‘No,’ wearily. ‘Only old sins have long shadows.’ 1957 V. BRITTAIN Testament of Experience I. iii. If he hadn’t been killed, they would probably never have become what they were. .. Bygone battles, like old sins, cast long shadows. 1987 C. GRAHAM Killings at Badger’s Drift viii. ‘The father was no good. Drove his poor wife into her grave.’ ‘So I understood.’ ‘Old sins cast long shadows.’ past; wrong-doers OLD soldiers never die a 1920 J. FOLEY (song-title) Old soldiers never die. 1930 BROPHY & PARTRIDGE Songs & Slang of British Soldier 1914–18 II. 67 Old soldiers never die—They simply fade away. 1933 F. RICHARDS Old Soldiers never Die xxviii. We generally wound up our evenings with the old song, set to the tune of a well-known hymn, ‘Old soldiers never die, they simply fade away’. 1940 Times 6 Apr. 4 There is an old saying that ‘Old soldiers never die’—but they may starve . . when other State pensioners are receiving increased benefits. 2000 Washington Times 7 Apr. A18 Meanwhile, regardless of the case’s outcome, Gen. Kennedy plans to retire this summer, proving, once again, that old soldiers never die. These days, they just file harassment charges. old age; soldiers old see also BETTER be an old man’s darling, than a young man’s slave; you cannot CATCH old birds with chaff; there’s no FOOL like an old fool; there’s many a GOOD tune played on an old fiddle; HANG a thief when he’s young and he’ll no’ steal when he’s old; a MAN is as old as he feels, and a woman as old as she looks; NEVER too old to learn; you can’t put NEW wine in old bottles; it is best to be OFF with the old love before you are on with the new; an old POACHER makes the best gamekeeper; you cannot SHIFT an old tree without it dying; you can’t TEACH an old dog new tricks; YOUNG folks think old folks to be fools but old folks know young folks to be fools; YOUNG men may die but old men must die; YOUNG saint, old devil. You cannot make an OMELETTE without breaking eggs Cf. Fr. on ne fait pas d’omelette sans casser des œufs, one does not make an omelette

without breaking eggs. 1859 T. P. THOMPSON Audi Alteram Partem II. xc. We are walking upon eggs and.. the omelet will not be made without the breaking of some. 1897 R. L. STEVENSON St. Ives viii. You cannot make an omelette without breaking eggs,.. and it is no bagatelle to escape from Edinburgh Castle. One of us, I think, was even killed. 1974 J. MANN Sticking Place iv. ‘In your philosophy, it seems that some men have no right to live at all.’.. ‘You can’t make an omelette without breaking eggs, Mother.’ 2000 National Review 20 Mar. 22 Nor should anyone be satisfied with the argument that eggs must be broken to make an omelet—the idea, in other words, that effective law enforcement requires the occasional slaying of an innocent citizen. pragmatism; ways and means ONCE a—, always a— This formula produces a limitless variety of proverbs, many of them depreciatory. Some are of long standing, while others appear to be one-offs. A small selection of sayings in this form is illustrated below and in the next two entries. 1622 J. MABBE tr. Aleman’s Guzman I.I. i. Once a knaue, and euer a knaue:.. For he that hath once beene naught, is presumed to bee so still.. not considering.. whether.. hee had reformed his manners or no. 1655 T. FULLER Church Hist. Britain VII. xxviii. Latimer by the courtesie of England (once a bishop, and ever a bishop) was in civility saluted Lord. 1706 J. STEVENS Spanish & English Dict. s.v. Hurtar, Once a Thief, always a Thief. 1820 M. EDGEWORTH Letter 15 Nov. in Maria Edgeworth in France & Switzerland (1979) 277 She loses her rank.. by marrying one of inferior rank. . . French and Russians are with reason surprised with the superior gallantry of our customs which say once a Lady and always a lady. 1953 R. CHANDLER Long Good-bye xliv. I went out of the door and got out of the building fast. Once a patsy [dupe], always a patsy. 2002 Times 2 21 May 6 Yet although lapsed Catholics may rebel on the surface, they cannot escape the Once a Catholic, Always a Catholic dictum. constancy and inconstancy; human nature ONCE a priest, always a priest An act enabling the clergy of the Church of England to unfrock themselves (the Clerical Disabilities Act) was passed on 9 Aug. 1870. 1859 G. A. SALA Twice round Clock 290 The great case of Horne Tooke versus the House of Commons—’Once a priest forever a priest’. 1865 L. STEPHEN Life & Letters (1906) ix. As in this.. country we stick to the maxim, ‘once a parson, always a parson,’ I

could not.. go in for law. 1916 JOYCE Portrait of Artist (1967) iv. You must be quite sure, Stephen, that you have a vocation because it would be terrible if you found afterwards that you had none. Once a priest always a priest, remember. 2002 Washington Times 14 June A1 ‘Once a priest, always a priest’ is a fundamental belief among Catholics. But that tenet may be tested as bishops consider firing hundreds of priests. constancy and inconstancy ONCE a whore, always a whore 1613 H. PARROT Laquei Ridiculosi II. cxxi. Well you may change your name, But once a Whore, you shall be still the same. 1659 N. R. Proverbs 82 Once a whore and alwaies a whore. 1754 World 31 Jan. 344 Supposing him to have acquired so much wealth, the proverb of ‘Once a whore, and always a whore’, is less significant. 1824 H. MARSHALL Hist. Kentucky II. v. ‘Once a prostitute, and always a prostitute,’ is a fair mode of argument—at least, among politicians. 1981 N. LOFTS Old Priory v. iii. There is a saying, ‘Once a whore, always a whore.’ constancy and incontancy; wrong-doers ONCE bitten, twice shy The variant once burned, twice shy is particularly common in the US, perhaps influenced by a BURNT child dreads the fire. 1853 SURTEES Sponge’s Sporting Tour xxxvii. Jawleyford had been bit once, and he was not going to give Mr. Sponge a second chance. 1894 G. F. NORTHALL Folk- Phrases 20 Once bitten, twice shy. 1920 CONRAD Rescue III. ix. Once bit twice shy. He had no mind to be kidnapped. 1949 ‘S. STERLING’ Dead Sure xv. She was especially on her guard.. because she’d been victimized in a stupid swindle herself, recently. Once burned, twice shy, you know. 1981 H. ENGEL Ransom Game xvi. I can’t imagine why this man would be harassing my wife again, Mr. Cooperman. You’d think ‘Once burned, twice shy’, wouldn’t you. 1998 Times 7 Jan. 27/6 Once bitten, twice shy when thinking of certain shops. experience once see also you can only DIE once; FOOL me once, shame on you.. ; MEASURE seven times, cut once; MEASURE twice, cut once; THINK twice, cut once. When ONE door shuts, another opens 1586 D. ROWLAND tr. Lazarillo D3V This proverbe was fulfild, when one doore is

shut the other openeth. 1620 T. SHELTON tr. Cervantes’ Don Quixote III. vii. Where one door is shut another is opened. 1710 S. PALMER Proverbs 49 When one Door Shuts another Opens. . . How often does the Divine Bounty surprize us with unthought of Felicity! 1821 J. GALT Annals of Parish xxvi. Here was an example.. of the truth of the old proverb that as one door shuts another opens; . . A full equivalent for her [the light- headed Lady Macadam] was given in this hot and fiery Mr. Cayenne. 1925 S. O’CASEY Juno & Paycock I. 16 ‘The job couldn’t come at a betther time.’ . . ‘Ah, God never shut wan door but he opened another.’ 1987 S. STEWART Lifting the Latch 105 They say one door in life doesn’t close without another opening. 2002 Washington Post 30 Jan. C15 (Rhymes with Orange comic strip) ‘I always say, “When one door closes, another will open.” In this case, when my office door closes behind you, Security will escort you to the exit and open that door for you.’ opportunity ONE for sorrow, two for mirth; three for a wedding, four for a birth A traditional country proverb found in a variety of forms, which refers to the number of magpies seen on a particular occasion. a 1846 B. HAYDON Autobiography (1853) I. V. During the journey four magpies rose.. and flew away. .. I repeated.. the old saw, ‘one for sorrow, two for mirth, three for a wedding, and four for death.’ 1846 M. A. DENHAM Proverbs relating to Seasons, &c. 35 One for sorrow: two for mirth: three for a wedding: four for a birth: five for silver: six for gold: seven for a secret, not to be told: eight for heaven: nine for hell: and ten for the devil’s own sel [self]. 1913 A. C. BENSON Along Road 162 I never see magpies myself without relating the old rhyme: ‘One for sorrow, Two for mirth, Three for a death, Four for a birth; Five, you will shortly be In a great company.’ 1999 A. L. BARKER Haunt (2000) 53 A magpie flew up from the road, almost under his wheels. ‘One for sorrow,’ said the girl. ‘But there’s another in the hedge—two for joy.’ bird lore; omens ONE for the mouse, one for the crow, one to rot, one to grow Other forms of this traditional country saying relating to sowing are also illustrated here. 1850 Notes & Queries 1st Ser. II. 515 How to sow Beans. ‘One for the mouse, One for the crow, One to rot, One to grow.’ 1941 L. I. WILDER Little Town on Prairie ii. ‘Kernels,’ said Pa. ‘Four kernels. . . One for the blackbird, One for the crow, And that will leave Just two to grow.’ 1961 N. LOFTS House at Old Vine I. 34 Careful farmers.. sow their seed broadcast, saying: One for wind and one for crow One to die and one to grow. garden lore

ONE nail drives out another C f . ARISTOTLE Politics 1314a one nail knocks out another, according to the proverb. a 1250 Ancrene Wisse (1962) 206 An neil driueth ut then other. 1555 J. HEYWOOD Two Hundred Epigrams no. 112 One nayle dryueth out an other. 1591 SHAKESPEARE Two Gentlemen of Verona II. iv. 189 As one nail by strength drives out another, So the remembrance of my former love Is by a newer object quite forgotten. c 1645 J. HOWELL Familiar Letters 17 Sept. (1903) III. 87 Languages and words.. may be said to stick in the memory like nails or pegs in a wainscot door, which used to thrust out one another oftentimes. 1852 E. FITZGERALD Polonius cxvii. One nail drives out another. 1979 V. CANNING Satan Sampler ix. He needed a home with a woman in it. One nail drove out another. change ONE size does not fit all Earlier versions of this saying are based on the metaphor of different size shoes for different feet; cf. 1587 J. BRIDGES Defence of Government of Church of England 86 Diverse feete have diverse lastes. The shooe that will serve one, may wring another. 1616 B. RICH My Ladie’s Looking Glaasse 21 As every shooe is not fit for every foote, nor every medicine to be applyed to every maladie, so every fashion, doth not befit every person, not every colour agree with every complexion. 1712 J. KELLY Scottish Proverbs 96 Every shoe fits not every foot. Every condition of life, every behaviour, every speech and gesture becomes not every body; that will be decent in one, which will be ridiculous in another. 1874 Ascott House, Buckinghamshire, UK (painted on cornice) Every shoe fits not every foot. 2002 Times 20 Mar. 26 Yesterday Sir Howard Davies . . gave warning that there was a danger that Europe’s approach to financial markets was in danger of trying to strap the different European markets into rigid rules that risked damaging their international competitiveness. One size does not fit all, he said. ways and means ONE year’s seeding makes seven years’ weeding On the danger of allowing weeds to grow and seed themselves: also used figuratively. 1866 Rural American 1 Dec. 354 It has been truly remarked that ‘one year’s seeding

may cost ten years’ weeding’. 1873 HARLAND & WILKINSON Lancashire Legends 190 One year’s seeding makes seven years’ weeding. 1889 T. F. THISTEL-TON-DYER Folklore of Plants xi. A weed that runs to seed Is a seven years’ weed.. implies that disagreeable actions.. only too frequently cling to man in after years. 1980 Daily Telegraph 19 Jan. 20 My advice to weed-persons is: do not let your weeds grow to maturity and seed—’one year’s seeding means seven years’ weeding’. action and consequence; garden lore one see also BETTER one house spoiled than two; BETTER to live one day as a tiger.. ; a BIRD never flew on one wing; two BOYS are half a boy, and three boys are no boy at all; the BUYER has need of hundred eyes, the seller of but one; every DOG is allowed one bite; don’t put all your EGGS in one basket; one ENGLISHMAN can beat three Frenchmen; one FUNERAL makes many; one GOOD turn deserves another; one HALF of the world does not know how the other half lives; one HAND for yourself and one for the ship; one HAND washes the other; one HOUR’S sleep before midnight is worth two after; one man’s LOSS is another man’s gain; one man’s MEAT is another man’s poison; one PICTURE is worth ten thousand words; one man may STEAL a horse, while another may not look over a hedge; one STEP at a time; from the SUBLIME to the ridiculous is only a step; one SWALLOW does not make a summer; it TAKES one to know one; TWO heads are better than one; if TWO ride on a horse, one must ride behind; one VOLUNTEER is worth two pressed men; one WEDDING brings another. one-eyed see in the COUNTRY of the blind, the one-eyed man is king. onion see one DAY honey, one day onion. open see (adjective) A DOOR must either be shut or open; (verb) a GOLDEN key can open any door; when ONE door shuts, another opens. The OPERA isn’t over till the fat lady sings Attempts to determine the identity of the diva concerned have been inconclusive. 1978 Washington Post 13 June B1 The opera isn’t over till the fat lady sings. .. One day three years ago, Ralph Carpenter, who was then Texas Tech’s sports information director, declared to the press box contingent in Austin, ‘The rodeo ain’t over till the bull riders ride.’ Stirred to top that deep insight, San Antonio sports editor Dan Cook countered with, ‘The opera ain’t over till the fat lady sings.’ 1988 D. L. GILBERT Black Star Murders viii. As soon as the big blond Briinnhilde finished, it was over. All I could

think about was the classic line about the opera never being over until the fat lady sings. 1992 Independent 11 Aug. 7 ‘You know, they say that the show’s never over until the fat lady sings,’ Mr Bolger said. ‘Well, I think it was her we heard warming up in the wings this week.’ 2002 Times 2 July 19 [T]he Royal Opera House’s leading lady whose dress was set on fire by an on-stage candle is a classic case of it ain’t over till the fat lady singes. finality opinion see he that COMPLIES against his will is of his own opinion still; so many MEN, so many opinions. OPPORTUNITY makes a thief c 1220 Hali Meidenhad (EETS) 23 Man seith that eise maketh theof. 1387 J. TREVISA tr. Higden’s Polychronicon (1879) VII. 379 At the laste the bischop seide to hym, ‘Me thenke that opportunitie makethe a thefe’. 1623 W. CAMDEN Remains concerning Britain (ed. 3) 275 Opportunity makes the thief. 1670 J. RAY English Proverbs 129 Opportunity makes the thief. . . Therefore, masters . . ought to secure their moneys and goods under lock and key, that they do not give . . a temptation to steal. 1835 SOUTHEY Doctor III. cv. Opportunity, which makes thieves, makes lovers also. 1979 Daedalus Summer 107 A child steals from the sleeping woman’s pocket, acting out the proverb ‘Opportunity makes a thief.’ honesty and dishonesty; opportunity, taken OPPORTUNITY never knocks twice at any man’s door Fortune occurs instead of opportunity in earlier forms of the saying. Several quotations below represent slightly different ideas based on the original proverb. In quots. 1809 and 1981, Opportunity is said to knock once or more, but in other quotations, once only. Cf. early 15th- cent Fr. il n’est chance qui ne retourne, there is no opportunity which comes back again. 1567 G. FENTON Bandello 216 Fortune once in the course of our life, dothe put into our handes the offer of a good torne. 1809 Port Folio (Philadelphia) Nov. 431 Fortune knocks once, at least, at every man’s door. 1889 W. F. BUTLER C. G. Gordon iii. Fate, it is said, knocks once at every man’s door. . . Gordon had just passed his thirtieth year when Fortune.. knocked at.. the door which was to lead him to fame. 1891 J. J. INGALLS Opportunity in Truth (NY) 19 Feb. 171 [Opportunity] knock unbidden once at every gate! If sleeping, wake: if feasting rise before I turn away.. [for] I return no more! 1941 ‘P. WENTWORTH’ Unlawful Occasions xxiv. It was an opportunity with a capital O, and if she threw it away it would never come back again. Opportunity never knocks twice at any man’s door. 2001 Washington Post 18 Nov. F2 Experts are uniquely vulnerable to one weakness: Opportunity may knock only once, but the temptation to try to make a contract

the hard way—and make the newspapers—is always pounding at the expert’s door. opportunity opportunity see also ENGLAND’S difficulty is Ireland’s opportunity; MAN’S extremity is God’s opportunity. opposite see DREAMS go by contraries. orders see OBEY orders, if you break owners. orphan see SUCCESS has many fathers, while failure is an orphan. OTHER times, other manners The proverb occurs in various forms and languages: cf. PINDAR Fragment ccxxv. (Bowra), think different thoughts at different times; Fr. autres temps, autres mœurs, other times, other customs. 1576 G. PETTIE Petit Palace 34 Other times, other wayes. 1902 A. DOBSON Samuel Richardson iv. Notwithstanding the favourite explanation of ‘other times, other manners’, contemporary critics of Clarissa found very much the same fault with her history as people do to-day. 1945 F. THOMPSON Lark Rise viii. Other days, other ways. . . The old country midwives did at least succeed in bringing into the world many generations of our forefathers. 1978 G. GREENE Human Factor iv. ii. ‘We used to have better funerals in Africa.’ . . ‘Oh well—other countries, other manners.’ change; circumstances; past other see also DO unto others as you would they should do unto you; the GRASS is always greener on the other side of the fence; one HALF of the world does not know how the other half lives; one HAND washes the other. An OUNCE of practice is worth a pound of precept A number of proverbs similar in form are illustrated below. An ounce used figuratively for ‘a small quantity’ is found in 1567 W. CECIL Letter in C. Read Mr. Secretary Cecil (1955) xxi. Marry [to be sure], an ounce of advice is more worth to be executed aforehand than in the sight of perils. Quot. 2002 suggests some convergence between this saying and PREVENTION

is better than cure. c 1576 T. WHYTHORNE Autobiography (1961) 142 I ment not to be on of thoz who waith [esteems] A chip of chauns [luck] mor then A pownds wurth of witt. 1592 G. DELAMOTHE French Alphabet II. 55 An ounce of discretion, is better worth, then a pound of hardinesse [audacity]. 1616 T. ADAMS Sacrifice of Thankfulness 19 The prouerbe is true; an Ounce of Discretion, is worth a pound of Learning. 1748 J. ELIOT Essays upon Field Husbandry 12 It used to be the Saying of an old Man, That an Ounce of Experience is better than a Pound of Science. 1866 BLACKMORE Cradock Nowell II. ix. Remember that rigid probity, and the strictest punctuality.. are the very soul of business, and that an ounce of practice is worth a pound of precept. 1925 J. GALSWORTHY Caravan 667 ‘Define it [Beauty], Mr. Vaness.’ ‘An ounce of fact is worth a ton of theory. —It stands before me.’ 1981 P. O’DONNELL Xanadu Talisman ix. She said rather primly, ‘An ounce of wisdom is worth a pound of wit.’ 2002 Washington Times 5 Apr. A20 Yet, if the IRS is attempting to reduce the incidence of obesity, . . shouldn’t it permit deduction for activities and products that prevent one from becoming obese in the first place? After all, an ounce of prevention could be worth a literal pound of cure. example, good and bad; words and deeds OUT of debt, out of danger 1639 J. CLARKE Parœmiologia Anglo-Latina 82 Out of debt and deadly danger. 1667 H. PEACHAM Worth of Penny (ed. 2) 8 How bold, confident, merry, lively, and ever in humour are moneyed men (for being out of debt, they are out of danger). 1710 S. PALMER Proverbs 132 Out of Debt out of Danger. ..A Man in Debt is a Slave, and can’t act with Liberty. 1908 E. M. SNEYD-KYNNERSLEY H.M.I. xxi. Call it ‘distributing capital expenditure over a term of years’, and even a rural dean succumbs. ‘Out of debt, out of danger,’ but ‘out of debt, out of progress.’ 1977 ‘C. AIRD’ Parting Breath vii. ‘Well, they’re important, aren’t they?’ said Leeyes largely. ‘Out of debt, out of danger.’ security; thrift OUT of sight, out of mind Cf. L. absens haeres non erit, an absent person will not be an heir. c 1250 Proverbs of Alfred (1907) 46 He that is ute bi-loken [shut out] He is inne sone foryeten [forgotten]. c 1450 tr. T. à Kempis’ De Imitatione Christi (EETS) I. xxxiii. Whan Man is oute of sight, son be he passith oute of mynde. 1545 R. TAVERNER tr. Erasmus’ Adages (ed. 2) D6V Whereunto also agreethe oure Englyshe proverbe which sayethe: Oute of syght, oute of mynde. 1797 A. RADCLIFFE Italian III. ix. Old women

now-a-days are not much thought of; out of sight out of mind with them. 1863 C. KINGSLEY Water Babies i. Sir John and the rest saw no more of her; and out of sight was out of mind. 1979 ‘S. WOODS’ This Fatal Writ 45 The brief .. was promptly concealed. . . He was working on the principle ‘out of sight, out of mind’. 2002 Spectator 13 Apr. 38 ‘Once word gets out, people will come,’ they say.’Out of sight, out of mind.’ absence; forgetfulness out see also BETTER be out of the world than out of the fashion; there are as good FISH in the sea as ever came out of it; when the GORSE is out of bloom, kissing’s out of fashion; don’t HALLOO till you are out of the wood; out of the MOUTHS of babes—; MURDER will out; never tell TALES out of school; TRUTH will out. outside see there is NOTHING so good for the inside of a man as the outside of a horse. over see the OPERA isn’t over till the fat lady sings; the SHARPER the storm, the sooner it’s over. own see the DEVIL looks after his own; when THIEVES fall out, honest men come by their own. owner see OBEY orders, if you break owners. owt see HEAR all, see all, say nowt; you don’t get SOMETHING for nothing. ox see BETTER a dinner of herbs than a stalled ox where hate is.

P It is the PACE that kills 1855 S. A. HAMMETT Wonderful Adventures of Captain Priest xv. The well-known sporting maxim, that ‘It is the pace that kills’. 1901 S. LANE-POOLE Sir H. Parkes in China xx. There is an old proverb about the pace that kills, and.. Sir Harry was killing himself by work at high pressure. 1936 N. MARSH Death in Ecstasy II. xvii. Don’t overdo it. .. This is the pace that kills. haste; stress package see the BEST things come in small packages. pack-drill see NO names, no pack-drill. padlock see WEDLOCK is a padlock. pain see GENIUS is an infinite capacity for taking pains; NO pain, no gain; PRIDE feels no pain. paint see a BLIND man’s wife needs no paint. painted see the DEVIL is not so black as he is painted. pan see if IFS and ands were pots and pans, there’d be no work for tinkers’ hands. paradise see ENGLAND is the paradise of women. parcel see the BEST things come in small packages. pardon see OFFENDERS never pardon. Paris see good AMERICANS when they die go to Paris. PARSLEY seed goes nine times to the Devil

1658 in Mennis & Smith Wit Restored 35 There is a saying in the North Riding of Yorkshire that The weed [parsley] before it’s borne Nine times the devill sees. 1885 Notes & Queries 6th Ser. XI. 467 Parsley seed (when it has been sown) goes nine times to the devil. 1908 D. H. LAWRENCE Letter 4 May (1962) I. 7 People say parsley seed goes seven times (some are moderate, discarding the holy number as unfit, and say five) to the Old Lad, it is so long a-germinating. 1981 in A. Hewins Dillen xiv. It’s a queer plant, parsley: ‘sow on Good Friday, seven times down to Hell afore it chits [sprouts (dialect)].’ garden lore; superstition parsnip see FINE words butter no parsnips. part see (noun) DISCRETION is the better part of valour; if you’re not part of the SOLUTION, you’re part of the problem; (verb) the BEST of friends must part. parted see a FOOL and his money are soon parted. Things PAST cannot be recalled Cf. late 14th-cent. Fr. ce qui est passe ne poet on recouver, that which is past one cannot recall. a 1500 H. MEDWALL Nature H3V A thyng don can not be called agayn. a 1535 MORE Edward V in J. Hardyng Chronicle (1543) II. 36 Sith [since] thynges passed cannot be gaine called, muche more ought wee to bee ware. 1616 T. DRAXE Adages 151 That that is past, cannot be recalled or helped. 1804 M. EDGEWORTH Popular Tales II. 130 Since a thing past can’t be recalled.. we may be content. 1979 Country Life 24 May 1683 Visually, another period’s realities are palpably inaccessible. Things past cannot be —perfectly—recalled. past; regrets pastime see he that would go to SEA for pleasure, would go to hell for a pastime. paternoster see NO penny, no paternoster. PATIENCE is a virtue Cf. Disticha Catonis I. xxxviii. maxima enim.. patientia virtus, patience is the greatest virtue; mid 14th-cent. Fr. patience est une grant vertu, patience is a great virtue.

1377 LANGLAND Piers Plowman B. xi. 370 Suffraunce [forbearance] is a souer- eygne vertue. c 1386 CHAUCER Tale of Melibee 1. 1517 Pacience is a greet vertu of perfeccioun. 1594 LYLY Mother Bombie v. iii. Patience is a vertue, but pinching is worse than any vice! 1754 RICHARDSON Grandison II. xvii. Aunt Prue in Yorkshire.. will be able to instruct you, that patience is a virtue; and that you ought not to be in haste to take a first offer, for fear you should not have a second. 1858 TROLLOPE Dr. Thorne I. xiv. That was only three days ago. Why don’t you.. ferret her out?.. Patience is and always was a virtue. 1979 A. FOX Threat Warning Red iv. ‘I.. can’t wait for you.’.. ‘Patience is and said to be a virtue?’ patience and impatience Paul see if SAINT Paul’s day be fair and clear, it will betide a happy year. paved see the ROAD to hell is paved with good intentions. PAY beforehand was never well served 1591 J. FLORIO Second Fruits 39 He that paieth afore hand, hath neuer his worke well done. 1721 J. KELLY Scottish Proverbs 278 Pay beforehand was never well serv’d.It is common to see.. Labourers, to go about a piece of Work with great Uneasiness, which is to pay a just Debt. 1786 G. WASHINGTON Letter 7 Jan. in Writings (1938) XXVIII. 370 I have had some reason to remember an old adage, that one of the bad paymasters is him that pays before hand. 1819 SCOTT Bride of Lammermoor iii. ‘Your honour is the bad pay-master,’ he said, ‘who pays before it is done.’ 1928 A. C. BROWN Dr. Glazebrook’s Revenge xi. The old Scots adage that ‘fore-hand payments mak’ hint-hand wark’. employers and employees; work He that cannot PAY, let him pray 1611 R. COTGRAVE Dict. French & English s.v. Argent, He that cannot pay let him pray. 1732 T. FULLER Gnomologia no. 6362 He that cannot pay, Let him pray. 1954 R. STOUT Three Men Out v. They’re quotations from things. One of them says, ‘He that cannot pay, let him pray.’ money; poverty If you PAY peanuts, you get monkeys Peanuts in the sense of ‘a small sum of money’ (esp. when considered as inadequate

payment) originated as mid 20th-cent. US slang. 1966 L. COULTHARD in Director Aug. 228 Shareholders want the best available businessmen to lead the companies and recognise that you get what you pay for. If you pay in peanuts, you must expect to get monkeys. 1979 P. ALEXANDER Show me Hero iii. ‘That’s forty thousand we’re giving away. Seems an awful lot.’ ‘If you pay peanuts,’ said Ashman, ‘you get monkeys.’ 1979 Guardian 11 Sept. 30 The companies’ chief negotiator.. was greeted with shouts of’if you pay peanuts, you get monkeys’. 1994 S. REUBEN Origin and Cause xvii. 107 ‘How much is..this photo-enhancement going to cost my client?’ ‘A bundle. .. But in my experience, if you pay peanuts, you get monkeys.’ employers and employees; money pay see also (noun) NO cure, no pay; (verb) CRIME doesn’t pay; they that DANCE must pay the fiddler; DEATH pays all debts; SPEAK not of my debts unless you mean to pay them; the THIRD time pays for all. He who PAYS the piper calls the tune Reversing the emphasis of they that DANCE must pay the fiddler. 1895 Daily News 18 Dec. 9 Londoners had paid the piper, and should choose the tune. 1910 Spectator 22 Oct. 643 Until British electors know that the dollars have been returned they will be wise in placing little trust in Nationalist ‘loyalty’. He who pays the piper calls the tune. 2002 Times 2 Jan. 14 In no profession is the saying ‘He who pays the piper, calls the tune’ more apt than government. action and consequence; money You PAYS your money and you takes your choice Both pays and takes are non-standard, colloquial forms. 1846 Punch X. 16 ‘Which is the Prime Minister?’.. ‘Which ever you please, my little dear. You pays your money, and you takes your choice.’ 1904 v. s. LEAN Collectanea IV. 205 You pays your money and you takes your choice. You pays your money and what you sees is A cow or a donkey just as you pleases. 2001 Washington Post Book World 23 Dec. 11 Which is the right answer? You pays your money, as another saying goes, and you takes your choice. choices; money

If you want PEACE, you must prepare for war Translating the 4th-cent. AD Roman military writer FLAVIUS VEGETIUS Epitoma Rei Militaris III. (Introd.) qui desideratpacem, praeparet bellum, he who desires peace must prepare for war. a 1547 E. HALL Chronicle (1548) Edw. IV 209 He forgat the olde adage, saynge in tyme of peace prouyde for warre. 1593 M. SUTCLIFFE Practice of Arms A2V He that desireth peace, he must prepare for warres. 1624 BURTON Anatomy of Melancholy (ed. 2) II. iii. The Commonwealth of Venice in their Armory haue this inscription, Happy is that Citty which in time of peace thinkes of warre, a fit Motto for euery mans priuate house. 1885 C. LOWE Prince Bismarck II. x. Lord Beaconsfield had acted on the maxim that ‘if you want peace, you must prepare for war’. 1929 Listener 28 Aug. 278 ‘If you want peace, prepare for peace.’ This is the reverse of the old motto, ‘If you want peace, prepare for war’. 2001 Washington Times 13 July A17 Peace is pro-family, pro-economy and—hear this environmentalists—pro-turtle. Do you want peace? Scipio Africanus, the Roman who defeated Hannibal, put it this way: ‘If you want peace, prepare for war.’ peace; prudence peanut see if you PAY peanuts, you get monkeys. pear see WALNUTS and pears you plant for your heirs. Do not throw PEARLS to swine With allusion to MATTHEW vii. 6 (AV) Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine. Often in the phrase to cast pearls before swine. 1340 Ayenbite of Inwit (EETS) 152 Thet we ne thrauwe naght oure preciouse stones touore the zuyn. 1362 LANGLAND Piers Plowman A. xi. Noli mittere Margeri, perles Among hogges. 1526 Pilgrimage of Perfection II. iii. The holy fathers thought it nat expedient to disclose the secrete misteryes to euery worldly person. .. Cast not your perles before hogges. 1550 R. CROWLEY Epigrams A3V Before suche swyne no pearles maye be caste. 1816 S. SMITH Letter in S. Holland Memoir (1855) II. 134 Elgin has done a very useful thing in taking them [the Elgin Marbles] away from the Turks. Do not throw pearls to swine. 1925 WODEHOUSE Sam the Sudden xi. ‘Young women do not interest me.’ The proverb about casting pearls before swine occurred to Sam. 2001 Spectator 3 Nov. 8 I am always inclined to toss such people a copy of The Way of All Flesh to show them what great late-Victorian fiction-writing was really about, but that would be pearls

before swine. gratitude and ingratitude; waste A PECK of March dust is worth a king’s ransom The month of March is traditionally wet and blustery. A peck in former times was a dry measure of two gallons. Thomas Fuller, discussing this saying in his Worthies of England (1662, p. 87), links the ‘king’s ransom’ to the £100,000 raised in 1193–4 to pay for the release of King Richard I, who, on his way home from crusading in the Holy Land, was being held captive in Germany. 1533 J. HEYWOOD Play of Weather D1 And now to mynde there is one olde prouerbe come: ‘One bushell of march dust is worth a kynges raunsome.’ 1685 R. BOYLE Discourse of Causes of Insalubrity of Air 55 It is proverbially said in England, that a Peck of March Dust is worth a King’s Ransom: So infrequent is dry Weather, during that Month. 1836 E. HOWARD Rattlin the Reefer III. viii. A spoonful of the soup to-day will be worth a king’s ransom—a peck of March dust! pooh! 1936 H. C. BAILEY Clue for Mr. Fortune 36 The flower borders.. were planted with bush roses.. stunted by the rigours of that grim March. .. ‘Bushel of March dust worth a king’s ransom,’ Reggie murmured. 1978 R. WHITLOCK Calendar of Country Customs iii. [The farmer] values dry, cold weather, such as often occurs in late February and March. ‘A peck of dust in March is worth a king’s ransom,’ is still an oft-quoted proverb. weather lore peck see also we must EAT a peck of dirt before we die. The PEN is mightier than the sword Cf. CICERO De Officiis I. xxii. cedant arma togae, arms give way to persuasion. 1582 G. WHETSTONE Heptameron of Civil Discourses iii. The dashe of a Pen, is more greeuous then the counter use of a Launce. a 1712 W. KING Eagle & Robin in Poetical Works (1781) III. 49 Poor Bob.. A goosequill on for weapon ty’d, Knowing by use that now and then A sword less hurt does than a pen. 1839 BULWER-LYTTON Richelieu II. ii. Beneath the rule of men entirely great, The pen is mightier than the sword. 1976 T. SHARPE Wilt iii. The man who said the pen was mightier than the sword ought to have tried reading The Mill on the Floss to Motor Mechanics. 2002 Washington Post 6 Mar. C1 In the long run, casualties and causality may be equally important—or maybe Laura Bush and her conference on education had the edge, yesterday, the pen being mightier than the sword and all. tact

Take care of the PENCE and the pounds will take care of themselves The ‘Mr. Lowndes’ to whom quot. 1750 attributes this saying was William Lowndes (1652–1724). 1750 CHESTERFIELD Letter 5 Feb. (1932) IV. 1500 Old Mr. Lowndes, the famous Secretary of the Treasury, .. used to say.. Take care of the pence, and the pounds will take care of themselves. 1912 G. B. SHAW Pygmalion II. 132 Take care of the pence and the pounds will take care of themselves is as true of personal habits as of money. 1979 R. CASSILIS Arrow of God IV. xvii. Little things, Master Mally. Look after the pennies, Master Mally, and the pounds will look after themselves. 1999 ‘H. CRANE’ Miss Seeton’s Finest Hour xi. 92 ‘Yes, it sounds on the melodramatic side,’ he said cheerfully, ‘but in wartime you can’t be too careful about the smallest detail. Think of it as along the lines of taking care of the pennies, and the pounds will take care of themselves.’ money; thrift A PENNY saved is a penny earned 1640 G. HERBERT Outlandish Proverbs no. 506 A penny spar’d is twice got. a 1661 T. FULLER Worthies (Hunts.) 51 By the same proportion that a penny saved is a penny gained, the preserver of books is a Mate for the Compiler of them. 1695 E. RAVENSCROFT Canterbury Guests II. iv. This I did to prevent expences, for..a penny sav’d, is a penny got. 1853 DICKENS Bleak House ix. I saved five pounds out of the brickmaker’s affair. .. It’s a very good thing to save one, let me tell you: a penny saved, is a penny got! 1923 WODEHOUSE Inimitable Jeeves xi. I can save money this way; and believe me, laddie, nowadays.. a penny saved is a penny earned. 2001 Washington Post 6 Dec. C11 (Family Circus comic strip) ‘A penny saved is a penny earned, but what can I buy with it?’ thrift PENNY wise and pound foolish 1607 E. TOPSELL Four-footed Beasts 609 If by couetousnesse or negligence, one withdraw from them their ordinary foode, he shall be penny wise, and pound foolish. 1712 J. ADDISON Spectator 7 Feb. I think a Woman who will give up herself to a Man in Marriage, where there is the least room for such an Apprehension.. may very properly be accused.. of being Penny wise and Pound foolish. 1864 MRS H. WOOD Trevlyn Hold II. xxi. He never would insure his ricks. .. Miss Diana has often told him he deserved to have his ricks take fire for being penny wise and pound foolish. 2001 Washington Post 17 June H1 I didn’t stop because I was too focused on saving that 2 cents a gallon. I was, without a doubt, being penny-wise and pound-foolish. meanness; stupidity

penny see also a BAD penny always turns up; IN for a penny, in for pound; NO penny, no paternoster. Like PEOPLE, like priest With allusion to HOSEA iv. 9 (AV) Like people, like priest. 1589 Pasquil’s Return C3 Like people, like Priest begins now to be verified. 1670 J. RAY English Proverbs 114 Like priest, like people. ..Always taken in the worse sense. 1893 R. HEATH English Peasant IV. iii. He had so deep a reverence for the clergy, that it never entered into his mind that perhaps, after all, it was like people, like priest’. 1963 Delaware County Daily Times 17 May 7/2 The President sets the moral standards for the nation. Like people, like priest.’ Surely our nation is at a low ebb morally. similarity and dissimilarity people see also IDLE people have the least leisure; MORE people know Tom Fool than Tom Fool knows; the VOICE of the people is the voice of God. perfect see PRACTICE makes perfect. perish see he who LIVES by the sword dies by the sword. perjury see JOVE but laughs at lovers’ perjury. PHYSICIAN, heal thyself With allusion to LUKE iv. 23 (AV) Ye will surely say unto me this proverb, Physician, heal thyself. (VULGATE medice cura teipsum.) c 1400 tr. Honorius of Autun’s Elucidarium (1909) 29 Blynde leches [doctors], heeleth first youre silf! 1519 J. COLET Sermon to Convocation B5V If you wyll ponder and loke vpon oure mottis [motes] fyrst take awaye the blockes out of your eies. Hit is an olde Prouerbe: Phisition heale thy selfe. 1780 T. FRANCKLIN tr. Lucian’s Works I. 320 According to the old adage, ‘physician, cure thyself’. 1875 S. SMILES Thrift ii. How can a man.. teach sobriety or cleanliness, if he be himself drunken or foul? ‘Physician, heal

thyself,’ is the answer of his neighbours. 1979 G. SWARTH-OUT Skeletons 150 Tell me the truth. Don’t dig yourself in any deeper. Physician, heal thyself. 2002 National Review 11 Feb. 26 As for those who get bent out of shape when they’re ‘Dr.’-less, all we can say is, ‘Ph.D., heal thyself.’ doctors pick see HAWKS will not pick out hawks’ eyes; see a PIN and pick it up, all the day you’ll have good luck. pickle (small quantity): see MANY a little makes a mickle. One PICTURE is worth ten thousand words There is no foundation to the ascription of Chinese origin in quots 1925 and 1927. 1921 Printers Ink 8 Dec. 96 One look is worth a thousand words. 1925 Washington Post 26 July (Amusements section) 2/2 ‘The picture is worth ten thousand words.’ So says an old Chinese proverb. 1927 Printers’ Ink 10 Mar. 114 Chinese proverb, One picture is worth ten thousand words. 1954 R. HAYDN Journal of Edwin Carp 90 ‘One picture speaks louder than ten thousand words.’ Mr. Bovey repeated the adage this morning when.. he handed me my finished portrait. 1979 Scientific American Oct. 118 A picture is worth a thousand words. 2001 New Scientist 17 Nov. 59 [In a photograph] the mask is being worn with the bottom strap cut off or dangling. A picture is worth a thousand words, but here are eight to redress the balance: ‘If there’s only one strap, it’s probably crap.’ example, good and bad; illustration Every PICTURE tells a story Quot. 1847 antedates the use of this saying as an advertiser’s catch-phrase. 1847 C. BRONTË Jane Eyre I. i. The letter-press.. I cared little for. .. Each picture told a story. 1904 Daily Mail 26 Feb. 8 A London woman and Doan’s Backache Kidney Pills. .. ‘Every picture tells a story.’ 1967 E. WILLIAMS Beyond Belief iv. xxiii. Every Picture Tells a Story. .. Sergeant Carr stood with his.. back to the fireplace, the lady next to the budgie, the dog next to her. 2001 Times Literary Supplement 2 Nov. 8 ‘We extend that which is limited by a frame to before and after, and through the craft of telling stories.. we lend the immutable picture an infinite and inexhaustible life.’ This is not merely a gloss on ‘every picture tells a story’, but an unfashionably specific and an unfashionably true observation. example, good and bad; illustration

pie see the DEVIL makes his Christmas pies of lawyers’ tongues and clerks’ fingers. pie-crust see PROMISES, like pie-crust, are made to be broken. pig see DOGS look up to you, cats look down on you, pigs is equal; what can you EXPECT from a pig but a grunt? pillow see a clean CONSCIENCE is a good pillow. See a PIN and pick it up, all the day you’ll have good luck; see a pin and let it lie, bad luck you’ll have all the day Similarly extolling the virtues of thrift in small matters is 1668 S. PEPYS Diary 2 Jan. (1976) IX. 7 The King answered to it with great indifferency. Sir W. Coventry answered: ‘I see your Majesty doth not remember the old English proverb, ‘He that will not stoop for a pin will never be worth a pound’. 1843 J. O. HALLIWELL Nursery Rhymes 120 See a pin and let it lay, Bad luck you’ll have all the day! 1883 C. S. BURNE Shropshire Folklore xxi. Pins are held.. unlucky.. in the North of England.. but side by side with this we have the thrifty maxim— See a pin and let it lie, You’ll want a pin another day; See a pin and pick it up, All the day you’ll have good luck. 1935 A. CHRISTIE Tape-Measure Murder in Miss Marple’s Final Cases (1979) ‘There’s a pin in your tunic.’.. He said, ‘They do say, “See a pin and pick it up, all the day you’ll have good luck.”’ 1966 D. FRANCIS Flying Finish ix. In the little hall hung more time-worn poker work. ‘See a pin and pick it up, all the day you’ll have good luck. See a pin and let it lie, you will want before you die.’ luck; thrift pin see also NEEDLES and pins,.. when a man marries, his trouble begins; it’s a SIN to steal a pin. pint see you cannot get a QUART into a pint pot. piper see he who PAYS the piper calls the tune. pitch see he that TOUCHES pitch shall be defiled.

The PITCHER will go to the well once too often A warning against pushing one’s luck too far. Cf. early 14th-cent. Fr. tant va pot a eve qu’il brise, the pot goes so often to the water that it breaks. 1340 Ayenbite of lnwit (EETS) 206 Zuo longe geth thet pot to the wetere: thet hit comth to-broke hom. 1584 j. WITHALS Dict. (rev. ed.) Bl So oft goeth the pitcher to the well, that at last it commeth broken home. 1777 N. SHAW Collections of New London County Hist. Society (1933) I. 223 I shall send down what I have, but dont you think the Pitcher will go to the well once too often? 1880 Church Times 30 Apr. 275 Some of Mr. Gladstone’s feats in the way of sweeping obstacles out of his path have been wonderful; but the proverb tells us that the pitcher which goes oft to the well will be broken at last. 1996 ‘C. AIRD’ After Effects xvi. 187 Superintendent Leeyes would have to be disturbed on a Saturday all over again. And it was odds on that he wouldn’t like it. That quotation about the pitcher going to the well once too often had more than a ring of truth to it as far as the superintendent was concerned. misfortune; persistence pitcher see also LITTLE pitchers have large ears. pitchfork see you can DRIVE out Nature with a pitchfork, but she keeps on coming back. pitied see BETTER be envied than pitied. PITY is akin to love 1601 SHAKESPEARE Twelfth Night III. i. 119 I pity you.—That’s a degree to love. 1696 T. SOUTHERNE Oroonoko II. i. Do, pity me: Pity’s a-kin to Love. a 1895 F. LOCKER-LAMPSON My Confidences (1896) 95 They say that Pity is akin to Love, though only a Poor Relation; but Amy did not even pity me. 1942 ‘C. KINGSTON’ Murder Tunes In (1943) iii. 44 ‘It may not be love—it may be only pity.’ ‘You’re wrong,’ said Mrs. Armitage with the cheerfulness of one discussing something exceedingly pleasurable. ‘It’s not the pity that is akin to love—it’s love itself.’ love; pity A PLACE for everything, and everything in its place 1640 G. HERBERT Outlandish Proverbs no. 379 All things have their place, knew wee how to place them. 1842 MARRYAT Masterman Ready II. i. In a well-conducted

man-of-war.. every thing in its place, and there is a place for every thing. 1855 T. C. HALIBURTON Nature & Human Nature I. vi. There was a place for everything, and everything was in its place. 1928 D. L. SAYERS Lord Peter views Body x. ‘I thought you were rather partial to anatomical specimens.’ ‘So I am, but not on the breakfast-table. “A place for everything and everything in its place,” as my grandmother used to say.’ 2002 A. VANNEMAN Sherlock Holmes and Giant Rat of Sumatra ix. 80 The sailor’s apothegm —‘a place for everything, and everything in its place’—guided us, until at length everything was stowed away.. orderliness There’s no PLACE like home Cf. HESIOD Works & Days l. 365 there’s no place like home. 1571 T. TUSSER Husbandry (rev. ed.) H1V Though home be but homely, yet huswife is taught, That home hath no fellow to such as haue aught. 1823 J. H. PAYNE Clari I. i. ‘Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam, Be it ever so humble, there’s no place like home.’ 1939 E. F. BENSON Trouble for Lucia xi. ‘What a joy to have it back at Mallards again!’.. ‘No place like home is there, dear?’ 2002 Spectator 16 Mar. 26 And then there is the tortoise who refused to come to Zeus’ party, arguing that there was no place like home. So Zeus angrily condemned him to carry his house with him wherever he went. content and discontent; home place see also LIGHTNING never strikes the same place twice; there is a TIME and place for everything; a WOMAN’S place is in the home. plague see PLEASE your eye and plague your heart. plant see it is not SPRING until you can plant your foot upon twelve daisies; WALNUTS and pears you plant for your heirs. He who PLANTS thorns should not expect to gather roses Arabic proverb; a version of as you SOW, so you reap. 1883 J. PLATT Piatt’s Essays 49 He has got it into his head, with Pope, that ‘Man never is, but always to be, blest.’ This view of life must be reversed. Men must realize that ‘he that plants thorns will not gather roses.’ 1971 D. FLAKSER Marxism, Ideology

and Myths 205 The means to the end tend to block the full realization of the end. ‘He who plants thorns should not expect to gather roses.’ action and consequence Those who PLAY at bowls must look out for rubbers Rubber is apparently an alteration of rub, an obstacle or impediment to the course of a bowl. Cf. 1595 SHAKESPEARE Richard II III. iv. 4 Madam, we’ll play at bowls.—‘Twill make me think the world is full of rubs. 1762 SMOLLETT Sir Launcelot Greaves I. x.(heading) Which sheweth that he who plays at bowls, will sometimes meet with rubbers. 1824 SCOTT Redgauntlet III. vi. ‘And how if it fails?’ said Darsie. ‘Thereafter as it may be—’ said Nixon; ‘they who play at bowls must meet with rubbers.’ 1874 L. STEPHEN Hours in Library I. 384 De Quincey.. admits.. that the fanaticism of the rub was ‘much more reasonable’ than the fanaticism of Priestly; and that those who play at bowls must look out for rubbers. 1907 F. W. HACKWOOD Old English Sports xi. Another term used in common speech and derived from this game [bowls] is ‘rub’; as when we say.. ‘he who plays at bowls must look out for rubs’—that is, he must consider the inequalities of the ground, and . . make due allowance for them. caution; foresight and hindsight; trouble If you PLAY with fire you get burnt The metaphorical phrase to play with fire, to tinker with something potentially dangerous, is also commonly found. Cf. 1655 H. VAUGHAN Silex Scintillans II. 15 I played with fire, did counsell spurn,.. But never thought that fire would burn, Or that a soul could ake. 1884 R. H. THORPE Fenton Family xiv. If people will play with fire, they must expect to be burned by it some time. If I had not learned the game, and thought myself a good player, I’d never have lost Mother’s money. 1980 P. KINSLEY Vatch-man Switch xxiv. If you play with fire you get burnt. Shouldn’t mess around in Crown Colonies. action and consequence; peril play see also (noun) FAIR play’s a jewel; GIVE and take is fair play; TURN about is fair play; all WORK and no play makes Jack a dull boy; (verb) when the CAT’S away, the mice will play. You can’t PLEASE everyone

1472 E. PASTON Letter 16 May in Paston Letters (1971) I. 635 I am in serteyn the contrary is true—yt is nomore but that he can not plese all partys. 1616 T. DRAXE Adages 45 One can hardly please all men. 1844 RUSKIN Journal 30 Apr. in Diaries 1835–47 (1956) 274 At Ward’s about window—nothing done. Gastineau came up and don’t like mine: can’t please everybody. 1981 Daily Telegraph 16 May 18 The old adage, ‘you can’t please everyone’, holds good. conduct; public relations PLEASE your eye and plague your heart c 1617 A. BREWER LovesickKing (1655) III. E3V She may please your eye a little.. but vex your heart. 1748 SMOLLETT Roderick Random II. xl. Many a substantial farmer.. would be glad to marry her; but she was resolved to please her eye, if she should plague her heart. 1829 COBBETT Advice to Young Men III. cxxic. ‘Please your eye and plague your heart’ is an adage that want of beauty invented, I dare say, more than a thousand years ago. 1876 I. BANKS Manchester Man III. vi. But I will marry him, mamma—I’ll please my eye, if I plague my heart. appearance; beauty; love please see also LITTLE things please little minds. pleasure see BUSINESS before pleasure; he that would go to SEA for pleasure, would go to hell for a pastime. plum see a CHERRY year a merry year. An old POACHER makes the best gamekeeper c 1390 CHAUCER Physician’s Tale 1. 83 A theef of venysoun, that hath forlaft His likerousnesse [depravity] and al his olde craft, Kan kepe a forest best of any man. 1695 T. FULLER Church Hist. Britain IX. iii. Alwayes set a—to catch a—; and the greatest dear- stealers, make the best Parke-keepers. 1878 R. JEFFERIES Gamekeeper at Home ix. There is a saying that an old poacher makes the best gamekeeper, on the principle of setting a thief to catch a thief. 1970 v. CANNING Great Affair iii. What the Church needed, possibly, was a good leavening of sinners in its ministry, on the principle that poachers make the best gamekeepers. 1978 T. SHARPE Throwback i. 5 ‘You’ll have heard the saying that a poacher makes the best gamekeeper?.. Well, Dodd’s the reverse. He’s a gamekeeper who would have made the best poacher.’ guile; wrong-doers pocket see SHROUDS have no pockets.

point see POSSESSION is nine points of the law. poison see one man’s MEAT is another man’s poison. poke see you should KNOW a man seven years before you stir his fire. policy see HONESTY is the best policy. politeness see CIVILITY costs nothing; PUNCTUALITY is the politeness of princes. POLITICS makes strange bedfellows Politics has long been considered a plural noun; its use with a singular verb is comparatively recent. A well-established variant of ADVERSITY makes strange bedfellows. 1839 P. HONE Diary 9 July (1927) I. 404 Party politics, like poverty, bring men ‘acquainted with strange bedfellows’. 1870 C. D. WARNER My Summer in Garden (1871) 187 The Doolittle raspberries have sprawled all over the strawberry-beds: so true is it that politics makes strange bed-fellows. 1936 M. MITCHELL Gone with Wind lviii. Ashley Wilkes and I are mainly responsible. Platitudinously but truly, politics make strange bedfellows. 1980 P. VAN GREENAWAY Dissident vii. Even enemies have something in common. Statecraft produces strange bedfellows. 1995 Washington Times 31 Mar. A4 Politics makes strange bedfellows, if Mr. Hyde will forgive the unforgivable but irresistible metaphor. associates; politics It is a POOR dog that’s not worth whistling for 1546 J. HEYWOOD Dialogue of Proverbs I. xi. It is, as I haue learned in lystnyng, A poore dogge, that is not worth the whistlyng. 1614 W. CAMDEN Remains concerning Britain (ed. 2) 303 A poore dog that is not worth the whystling. 1738 SWIFT Polite Conversation i. 41 Because, Miss, you never ask’d me; and ‘tis an ill Dog that’s not worth whistling for. 1952 W. S. HOOLE Alias Simon Suggs i. It was a poor dog indeed that wasn’t worth whistling for. value It is a POOR heart that never rejoices